Cecilia Chavez-Brandon and her husband Paul Kirwan have created a trainspotters’ paradise
House owners Cecilia Chavez-Brandon and Paul Kirwan inside one of many transformed carriages (Picture: SWNS)
A pair have created a trainspotters’ paradise after investing greater than £50,000 remodeling a derelict nineteenth century railway station right into a luxurious retreat. Cecilia Chavez-Brandon and her husband Paul Kirwan bought Rowden Mill Station in 2017 following a year-long seek for their dream renovation venture.
Passenger providers got here to an finish within the Fifties as motor journey turned more and more widespread, leaving the station to deteriorate over the many years. The couple paid £395,000 for the two.7-acre web site in Bromyard, North Herefordshire, which featured a bit of monitor alongside the unique buildings.
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After years of painstaking restoration, visitors can now journey again in time and benefit from the vistas that welcomed passengers greater than half a century in the past. Cecilia, who hails from Mexico, initially skilled as an architect, however revealed the couple have needed to turn out to be railway lovers since welcoming guests.
Cecilia, 57, stated: “We have been home looking for an entire yr, however in thoughts that we wished a enterprise. The station got here available on the market, we put a suggestion in and three hours later it was accepted.
“The station itself closed in 1952. A lot of the visitors was shifting injured troopers to subject hospitals in the course of the battle, or by farmers shifting cattle with a cattle dock.
“Now we have a parcel workplace with a studio for 2 on the primary platform. For anybody staying right here, it is like waking up in a railway station from the Fifties and 60s.”
The station had already undergone renovation by its earlier homeowners earlier than the couple took up residence, although they set about updating the constructing and including their very own distinctive touches to finish the ‘time capsule’ expertise. They bought a dilapidated 18ft lengthy saloon railway coach and gave the inside a classic makeover, furnishing it with Nineteen Sixties items. Following the renovation, the previous station lastly opened its doorways to holidaymakers in July 2022.
Cecilia stated: “It was not till the Nineteen Eighties that the previous homeowners discovered the station and purchased it from the farmers. They constructed the rail monitor again. We arrived after they’d been right here 32 years and helped modernise it.
“They restored the station constructing and the parcel workplace and transformed it into lodging somewhat than a station. The reserving workplace is now the kitchen, the ready room is now the lounge. The gentleman’s rest room is now a full toilet.
Cecilia and Paul on the station (Picture: All photos SWNS)
“The parcel workplace is a separate constructing and we transformed it and put central heating in and new carpets. We turned that right into a full studio with an ensuite.”
Guests now pay upwards of £260 per night time for probably the most lavish room, which boasts sweeping views throughout rolling countryside — a far cry from the typical 15p fare of the Fifties. Additionally on supply is the primary station constructing at £430 for 2 nights and The Parcel Workplace studio at £220 for 2 nights. Regardless of being pressured to close their doorways in the course of the 2020 Covid pandemic, the couple wasted no time renovating additional carriages and sustaining the 250 metres of monitor.
Cecilia stated: “In 2020 we acquired an inspection saloon coach. It is a very well-known inspection saloon coach from 1962, it is coated in a British Railway livery.
“It turned out to be our pandemic venture, specializing in the conversion into lodging. We additionally keep over 250 metres of disused railway monitor, which is the place our principal autos are saved.”
Through the transformation of the carriages and ready rooms into visitor lodging, the pair have taken nice care to protect the station’s historic character. The construction retains its unique cover roof, and guests enter via what was as soon as the reserving workplace – precisely as passengers would have completed greater than half a century in the past.
What was previously the women’ ready space has been transformed right into a principal bed room, with a bunk room located to at least one facet. The couple now welcome a relentless move of holiday makers wanting to expertise the novelty of waking up inside a prepare carriage from a distinct age.
Cecilia added: “It is turn out to be a full-time job for us. We did not actually begin out as railway buffs, however you clearly turn out to be one. It is like happening a rabbit gap.
“You find yourself being an entire community of railway folks and it is actually one thing wonderful. The very first visitor arrived in September 2017 they usually got here with books and have been clear railway buffs and knew extra in regards to the department line than we did on the time.
The station was deserted (Picture: SWNS)
“By way of visitors we clearly have the railway buffs, even kids with technical data. Now we have station masters and prepare drivers – we get fairly a variety of followers.
“The entire web site is nice. It is so peaceable, with attractive views and our different ardour is nature. We have our personal meadows, hedgerows and wildlife ponds.”
In 2018, the couple bought an unique 20-tonne brake van, which they reworked into upscale lodging.
Cecilia added: “The brake van was in a really unhealthy state. Lots of locomotives had good wagons with no brakes.
A bed room on board (Picture: SWNS)
“This was very bashed after its life on the railway, it wanted lots of structural work. It wasn’t till April 2024 that the conversion of the van began.
“It was just about all completed on web site and it was extremely difficult due to the form. Now we have got an ideal addition to the station. All the furnishings is vintage and ideally interval appropriate.
“Since we launched the brake van every week in the past, we have already got 9 bookings, so we’re delighted it’s taking off. We’re a railway expertise in nature, for those who like, overlooking the Wall Hills in north Herefordshire. There’s nowhere else fairly prefer it.”
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