Our Victoria Secret
Stunning family home was once a rail station – built exclusively to serve the monarch
IT IS impossible to imagine a prettier spot,’ Queen Victoria said of her holiday residence, Osborne House on the Isle of Wight. It was at the beach there that she would take to the sea in her wooden bathing machine, and that all of her children learned to swim.
But, however pleasing her days at Osborne House, Victoria’s journeys there were never easy. She would travel to Portsmouth by train and then by ferry to Ryde. From Ryde there was a railway line that passed not far from Osborne House but the nearest station was at Wootton, more than two miles from the property.
So, in 1875, a station was built at Whippingham, the closest point on the line to Osborne House – just to serve the Royal residence. Accommodation was built for the stationmaster, as well as waiting rooms with toilets for both ladies and gentlemen.
The building is now a five-bedroom family home, currently on the market for £625,000, while the track has become a cycle path.
Victoria died in 1901 and the station went into public use in 1903. However, services ended in 1966, after which the station was converted into a home.
The current owners, retired electrician Tony Vickers, 69, and his 70-year-old wife Sue, a retired hairdresser, are selling because they want to move to a smaller bungalow. ‘We were very excited when we knew we would be able to own the station that was built for Queen Victoria, and we have maintained many of the original features and some of the fireplaces,’ says Sue.
‘We are very sad to leave our unique home and its gardens, which have given us many years of pleasure. It’s been a lovely family home.’
It is thought that Queen Victoria, who, famously, would not allow herself to be conveyed at more than 40 miles per hour, would wait at Whippingham station in the room that is now used as a sitting room.
Victoria, and those who visited her on the Isle of Wight, would be taken by horse and carriage from Whippingham station to Osborne House.
In 1900, Whippingham station made another piece of history, with the appointment of a stationmistress, rather than master – almost unheard of at the time.
Emily Merwood took over the role from her father-in-law. Immensely proud of being in sole charge of the station, she would dress in a white starched apron over a black dress, and would sport a straw boater hat.
THE part of the house now used as a sitting room used to be the station’s waiting room, while the main bedroom used to be the points room, where the signalman would pull levers to control trains on the track.
Where the main platform once stood there is now a lawn that leads down to an Italian garden, with raised beds, a rockery, an orchard and a small woodland beyond. There are also two plum trees (naturally, they are Victoria plums, the type named after the monarch) and a quince tree. To the left of the driveway is a common meadow with wild orchids.
The property is also very versatile: alongside its five bedrooms, it has four reception rooms, a conservatory, a kitchen/dining room, a utility room, three shower rooms, a family bathroom and a downstairs cloakroom.
‘This is a wonderful home which holds a great deal of character and warmth, as well as its own slice of history,’ says James Shelley, sales manager at Fine & Country Isle of Wight. ‘It could meet a number of needs: it could be a home to serve the requirements of two or even three generations of the same family; a holiday home; or a combination of the two.
‘One thing is for certain here – the choices are plenty within this amazing property, and it certainly delivers substantial levels of charm and appeal.’