As our Open Day on Saturday 18th March draws ever closer and opening for business a week later on Friday 24th March it’s definitely a good time for an update…

It takes a lot of thought and planning setting up a new business and our journey from the early thoughts all the way through to our opening day has been a steep learning curve; opening up a private swimming pool for hire is, by very definition, a rather niche and bespoke thing to do and it takes a great deal of time, effort and focus.  When we started this journey we agreed that we’d not rush and spend time considering every detail, but there is never enough time and there’s certainly little time to spare now so, as always, we will be working hard right up to the last minute before we open our front gates on Saturday morning at 10.00am for our open day…

If you’re planning to come along, please excuse us if we have paint in our hair or you detect a faint whiff of chlorine emitting from our direction or indeed we have the look of people who haven’t enjoyed the benefit of rest or sleep in recent times… 

The Waiting Room Pool interior was dated and, amongst other things, boasted a huge sauna which, without giving it much thought, we had full intention of retaining as one of the future facilities.  It didn’t take long to realise this beast of thing had no place (without compromise) and we were unwilling to clutter the pool and hot tub area or indeed try to squeeze it in to the planned changing room layout which was unable to accommodate it

Tim put it up for sale on ‘Marketplace’ and a lovely couple from Oxford who’d ‘always wanted their own sauna’ bought it and took it away…  So it seems that there’s always someone out there for everything and as it turns out, we both agree that keeping it would have been a big mistake!

And then…  There was the dated dark blue, marbled, sunken, corner hot tub suffering badly with osmosis to deal with…  Just to remove this ugly beast, sunken hole and then negotiate it out of the building, took an unexpectedly large amount of time, effort and cutting tools…

And the ancient, yellowing shower cubicle, toilet and tiny wash hand basin couldn’t hide and they too were swiftly removed

The building seemed to breathe a sigh of relief and has been transformed over the past couple of months.  Even though we’re not quite finished (when are you ever finished!?) we’re delighted with the results; the pool has been cleaned and has a new fancy coloured light fitted, the newly installed hot tub is fabulous, again with coloured lights.

The Waiting Room Pool interior has the benefit of a very high ceiling so it has a light, spacious and open feel inside, we’ve removed all the old heavy radiators and replaced them with modern vertical radiators which take up little space and improved the interior lighting across the whole building

The changing room is looking fresh with waterproof octopus design curtains on the two changing cubicles and turquoise goldfish on the glass shower screen, it’s all looking rather smart

The interior walls are decorated with a range of railway advertising posters… 

I think this might be a good time to let you in to my little secret…

When I originally bought all the Great Western Railway (GWR) advertising posters (of which there are many) I went to a great deal of trouble to pick out ones that seemed appropriate for the swimming pool and, being here in the South West, I understandably assumed that Luckett Station had been owned by GWR…  So, having paid a large amount of money to buy posters and then have them framed and sealed in waterproof materials…  It came as quite a surprise to learn that Luckett Station had in fact, been owned and operated by Southern Railway and furthermore the Tamar Valley line, had been the only line operated by Southern Railway in Cornwall

Interesting as it is, I learned this fact a little too late for the accuracy of my Waiting Room Pool posters… So excuse the mistake

We found a ‘perfect’ old door in a Cornish reclamation yard and we were feeling rather pleased with ourselves until of the carpenter set eyes on it and we realised our amazing find was also another challenge.  Thankfully, a decent carpenter with a ‘can do’ attitude and huge talent managed to make our ‘sows ear’ door into something very unique and in keeping with the building. Now it’s painted and prepared and it looks like it’s always been there

There’s also been quite a lot of boring essential works – electrical updating, energy saving lights and new consumer unit, new components in our boiler and hot water tank, the backwash sand has been replaced and the swimming pool tested, cleaned and prepared, the building has been decorated inside and the floor re-tiled with non slip tiles which have made the space feel lighter and bigger

For the past few months, every day items arrive in the post or via delivery drivers, and we’ve been driving the length and breadth of Cornwall and Devon procuring and collecting all sorts of bizarre bits and pieces that are needed to get us to this point.

Amazon Prime has been very useful as has Trewarthas in Callington – who, thankfully, seem to stock even the most obscure items.  If you are a visitor to these parts and maybe remember the hardware shops of yesteryear, treat yourself to a visit to this amazing special place

 Items are still arriving; safety signs, life saving buoys and ring poles, pool floats, bluetooth speakers, first aid kit, notice board followed closely by pins… a seemingly endless succession of vans and cheerful delivery people arriving in procession that feels never ending but comforting that things are ‘getting done’

We have been working on the bookings calendar, which is now live on the website and also the website itself which we intend to redesign once the project is complete and The Waiting Room Pool is open

We’ve had the benefit of advice, support and help from a range of amazing, skilled and clever professionals from all walks of life; friends and family have been our proof readers, feedback and brilliant critics and sometimes shoulders to cry on when we’ve had setbacks or feeling overwhelmed by it all

Outside the building we have added the necessary safety features of double rails on the steps and across the platform in front of The Waiting Room Pool building, we have added lots of signage (I like signs) and moved a tall lamppost to create additional parking spaces as well as fencing off our private garden area – mainly to keep our dogs contained

All in all, it’s been a challenging but really enjoyable project and we have many people to thank for providing their help and support transforming the building, we are very lucky

We are very much looking forward to people arriving back to the station again; it was originally built to provide a service for the local community and it feels right that, although it has a very different purpose, The Waiting Room Pool means once again Old Luckett Station is back serving the local community and hopefully some holiday makers…