The cottage where the Railway Children were born
WAITING for the London train to arrive in the early morning haze at Knockholt station, you can all but glimpse the spectre of a young Jenny Agutter scampering beneath a Victorian bridge in The Railway Children.
In nearby Station House, which was once connected to the platform by a flight of steps, you can also imagine the station master looking down from his garden and sipping tea.
There is no plaque to advertise it, but this unassuming four-bedroom detached cottage in Kent represents a valuable piece of our cultural history. For this particular branch line, together with its station and house, is thought to have inspired author Edith Nesbit to write her much-loved children’s classic.
The book and later film adaptation might have been set in Yorkshire but Nesbit first fell in love with trains in rural Kent. After the premature death of her father, Edith and her family settled for three years at Halstead Hall, near Knockholt station.
Edith would clamber up to the roof to write poems, and from here she would have been able to see labourers digging a tunnel to build a railway line between Denton Green and Knockholt, as well as constructing the station and house.
Nesbit also roamed the countryside with her siblings Alfred and Mary, but in a manner not quite as dramatic as the characters Bobbie, Peter and Phyllis in her later book. They prevented a steam train crashing into a landslide by transforming red bloomers into flags, which they waved until the train came to a halt in the nick of time.
In 1875, the Nesbit family moved back to London and Station House was completed. The station – then known as Halstead for Knockholt – was opened in 1876. Today, all these buildings have been given a modern makeover but original period features remain. The property, which is for sale at £625,000, also boasts an impressive driveway and gardens.
Current owner Seamus McCauley has made a few discreet nods to the cultural history of his property through the interior decoration. A reproduction of The Railway Children’s iconic film poster hangs near the front door, while a copy of the book takes pride of place in the library.
‘ I grew up in Yorkshire watching the Haworth steam trains and understood the E. Nesbit connection here too,’ he explains. ‘It immediately struck me that this was the station master’s cottage and I looked into the history. That’s what grabbed me.’
SEAMUS insists that even those who do not eagerly spot trains or devour Nesbit’s tales would be quite happy in a place that seems to rattle slightly every time a train passes. ‘ Since I moved here, I’m always asked, “How do you sleep?” And I say, “You will lose three nights’ sleep and then you’ll never hear another train in your life!” ’
Among Station House’s modern- day advantages is a commuting time to London of under half an hour. It also boasts a 100-year-old ‘indestructible railway shed’ and a set of bells, which used to alert the station master when he was needed down at the platform. The bells are concealed around the staircase – just one of Station House’s thrilling secrets.