I wrote this blog to answer a question that we are frequently asked;
‘Did you plan this?’
Our sixth year living at the Old Station has turned out to be another remarkable year on all fronts but especially in relation to The Signal Box, The Sidings and The Waiting Room Pool, all three businesses now being individually successful in their own right. This success might give anyone the impression that we are a couple who know what we’re doing or indeed had or even have a plan, but this assessment couldn’t be further from the truth…
Back in the early autumn of 2014, following a particularly enjoyable visit to Cornwall with family, whilst enjoying Sunday lunch in The Pandora Inn at Mylor we were reflecting on life and, like many who venture westward for their holidays, we realised that not only did we not want to go home, we wanted to make Cornwall our future home.
A hasty five year plan was formed and we agreed that we’d live in Cornwall by 2019. From that moment on, the seed had been sown and inevitably it started to grow.
Being naturally driven to make things happen, this ‘future plan’ felt too distant and gnawed away at me to the point that I never resettled at home or at work again.
Up until this time, I had been happy in my life and work but since I’d met and married Tim in 2012 my priorities had changed and the trip to Cornwall had set me on another new path.
It took just over a year for me to make it happen but the day came in early December 2015, I’d contacted the CEO, and asked to meet for lunch and we agreed my exit plan.
I’m not the sort of person who would give up their job without a plan or another job lined up – but that’s exactly what I did and, after 23 years service, I was all set up and ready to depart.
After a long lunch I remember calling Tim excitedly saying ‘I’m leaving in a month’s time and, it’s all good’ He was understandably shocked and asked me if I was sure? I can imagine how reckless my decision must have seemed to him, thankfully he knew I was planning to leave and supported my decision.
It was a great feeling, I was walking on air, I’d played it safe for too long and I instinctively knew that I had more to lose if I didn’t walk away than if I’d stayed. Fortunately for us, time proved my instincts to be spot on.
Some people might call it ‘lighting a fire under your arse’ but that single action certainly ended of my career a month later on 8th January 2016 and gave me the green light to crack on with our plans to move to Cornwall without any obstacles holding me back.
Being ‘ temporarily out of work’ was good for me and gave me the pause I needed to reset my compass.
My new freedom also gave me great happiness and it was a big step in the right direction for both of us when, on 1st March, less than two months after leaving my job, a chance encounter with a rescue dog walker, led us to adopt our big soppy Italian Mastiff called ‘Rico’.
We could never have considered or committed to owning a dog when we were both working full time and it was the first of many life changing positive decisions that we were to make from then on…
I also adopted a pet sheep later in the same year called ‘Francis’ I first met this social and friendly little lamb whilst out walking Rico and he had such a lovely trusting character that I decided to adopt him with the intention of saving him from his fate, he’s another very special boy with a lovely temperament.
I’m delighted to say that Francis is now over seven years old and grazes in the paddocks beside The Signal Box with three other adoptees… I’m prone to adopting animals…
By September 2016 our then home was on the market and by August 2017, the deed was done and we lived at Old Luckett Station in Cornwall.
Tim took the role of body shop manager in Exeter, delighted to find a suitable role and he enjoyed working with a new team although the work was not as fulfilling for him and he was not enamoured or impressed by the somewhat unusual running of the business he worked for or indeed the peculiar style of management. Although relatively happy, the clock had by now started to tick on his career too.
I also knew that I wanted to work but I didn’t fancy working for anyone else so we both needed new challenges…
I didn’t like the idea of returning to a conventional career, from the moment we’d arrived in Cornwall our lives have been anything but conventional so nothing 9 to 5 and ‘normal’ would work for us.
Knowing me very well, Tim suggested that I ran our little holiday cabin ‘The Signal Box’ as a business on Airbnb to see how I got on…
Clever Tim!
His suggestion led me to take immediate action and I quickly set up this new business and found we had guests checking in and raving about ‘the view’ and the facilities straight away, wow!
From the start, I loved everything about running our, now two, holiday cabins, it’s been a wonderful career move for me and we now share the work load together with our different skills sets covering all the tasks needed.
We are proud of our contribution to Cornwall’s tourism industry. As we see it, many areas of Cornwall are negatively impacted by tourism, it’s a very specific county in which to live and work and it, by very definition of the landscape, cannot cope with high volume tourism so we believe that if you are running a business here, you ideally should live here and be part of the life of your business and contribute to your community too.
Our two holiday cabins are probably enough for this area although, a third is always a possibility, but we would think long and hard about such a decision because unless it proved to be much needed, we would see no need to spoil the equilibrium we have here at this time.
We recommend everything that we consider to be great in our local and wider area and maintain a list of ‘Our Devon and Cornwall’ on our website.
We’re very lucky, there’s an endless supply of amazing things to tell guests about in all categories all around us – our recommendations are regularly updated and always tried and tested by us first!
We open our three businesses all year round and we know that our local pubs, restaurants and businesses appreciate any business that we send their way – especially in the quieter months of the year, just as we do ourselves.
We are hugely proud to live and work in the Tamar Valley, for us it’s the best place in the world to be and we say that being very well travelled ourselves.
We also feel hugely blessed to have the wonderful City of Plymouth on our doorstep with it’s wealth of places to visit and useful facilities – such as the Theatre Royal, a huge variety of restaurants, several marina’s (we own a small boat), a ferry terminal, shopping, national aquarium, museums, cinemas, historic properties and landmarks and so much more besides!
Having previously lived in a rural location in Surrey we are used to having a good balance of occasional town/city living mixed with country living so without the bright lights of Plymouth (and sometimes Truro and Exeter) close by and their main line train stations for those occasional trips back up to London or indeed Bristol and Heathrow, our life here would be the less for it.
After a couple of years, The Signal Box was so successful that Tim (his idea again) suggested we open another holiday let and The Sidings was born and opened in February 2020… straight into the pandemic managing to accommodate just one single guest staying for two nights before it was closed again!
Negatives often turn into positives for us and the downtime that the pandemic gave to us led us to re-think our offering for both holiday cabins and we quickly invested into purchasing a large quality hot tub for each cabin just before we re-opened with the intention of providing a differential to other holiday properties in the local area and we also wanted to add some luxury for our guests.
This single decision has kept our holiday cabin’s pretty much fully booked ever since we re-opened after the pandemic, so much so that in April 2021 Tim gave up his career in the motor industry and joined me in running the business because I couldn’t manage on my own anymore.
Finally by chance we decided to put our private swimming pool to good use. We never really used the pool, not having our own children, much spare time or any inclination toward it, left it sitting empty and quiet for the past five years while we were busy focused on other things.
A chance conversation with a friend who asked if her children might use the pool led us to have a rethink, we gave the building a complete make over, purchased a brand new luxury hot tub and began the trial hiring out our facilities to see if there would be any interest…
Opening The Waiting Room Pool in March 2023 has been an amazing success and a great experience for us whilst also being a steep learning curve. We both find the different type work enjoyable as well as rewarding and get personal satisfaction from providing a facility that has brought something positive to people in our local area and beyond.
As you can see, we didn’t have a plan but things seemed to fall in to place as though it was planned for us, we move endlessly forward observing and listening to feedback and advice form others with our own instincts guiding us, who knows what the future holds?
Although… We currently have two ideas germinating without any plan at the moment:
1) Finding a film/TV location company because we think that the Old Station might be a great filming location for something?
2) A wedding venue? We’ve considered this idea for a while and it’s been mentioned to us by so many people that maybe it’s worth looking in to? We’re unsure and currently inexperienced but maybe a couple of weddings a year would be a lovely project to be part of? My sister and I are considering a floristry course at the moment.
All just ideas and nothing more than that, to be honest we’re very busy and fulfilled with our lot for now…
Jacqui Selwood
