Buy your very own station in Devon – complete with coach!
TWO railway stations are on the market in Devon – one next to a heritage line and the other complete with a vintage carriage.
The lease on Torrington station includes The Puffing Billy restaurant, tea room and café, and is being offered for £119,500.
Built by the North Devon Railway and opened on July 18, 1872 to serve trains to Bideford, it was operated by the LSWR. It closed to regular passenger services in 1965 under the Beeching Axe. However, due to both local china clay and milk train traffic, freight trains and the occasional passenger special, the line remained in use until 1982.
After full closure, the station building was converted to a public house and then to its present form, a restaurant/licensed café. It stands next to the Tarka Valley Railway, which has a separate office and hopes to eventually rebuild the line to Bideford. However, the station building is owned by a separate local charity and there is no link between The Puffing Billy and the operators of the heritage line.
The trackbed to the north, to Barnstaple and Braunton, and south to Meeth both now form part of the Tarka Trail long-distance cyclepath and footpath.
The premises includes the original stationmaster's door in its entrance foyer and the original platform, which is now the main restaurant. There is also self-contained accommodation within the building, with a lounge, kitchen and diner, and two bedrooms, plus a private outside area where the station's former bus shelter is in situ.
The lease is being marketed by James Doble, of Westward Ho!-based commercial and business specialists JD Commercial (01227 425053 or www.jd-commercial.co.uk), who said: “Many buildings purport to have a history, heritage, and a story behind them but surely many cannot match the stories and history that could be told about The Puffing Billy.”
On the opposite side of the county, the converted former station at Brampford Speke on the GWR Exe Valley Line, which opened in May 1885 and closed in 1963 under the Beecing Axe, is for sale for £550,000.
The three-bedroom property is set in 6.2 acres of mature gardens and meadow areas, which includes an old carriage, rustic kitchen, wooden chalet, a large pond crossed by a stone bridge, and rewilded woodland, as well as the original platform. Inside, the former ticket office is now the main bedroom, adjoining the sitting room with the ticket hatch still in place. Modern amenities and cosy furnishings are present throughout, and the original fireplace remains a feature.
It is being marketed by Stags of Exeter (01392 255202 or www.stags. co.uk).