Living by the Railway

We are so very lucky to live where we do, in the old Station Master’s house alongside East Somerset Heritage Steam Railway.  The Engineer LOVES his trains and on warm sunny weekend mornings (and some that aren’t so warm and sunny too!) can often be found sitting on the bench in our porch waiting to see the first train of the day leave the station.  The trains only run at weekends, and mid week during the summer holidays, the rest of the time it’s very peaceful here.

I don’t remember if I’ve ever shared a picture of our house – just in case, here’s one I took from the opposite side of the tracks on our way back from a summer evening’s walk.  Miss Daisy just had to get involved because, don’t you know, every picture is better if she’s in it!!

This love of the railway and trains is rubbing off on Freddie and Florence too, who can often be seen hanging off our gate waving at the passengers if they happen to be visiting at the weekend….

And then of course, no sleepover at our house is complete without a trip on the train itself.  Florence is particularly enthusiastic, even at the age of two she can identify the different trains, knows all the fields along the lines with cows in (she probably knows all the cows’ names too haha!!) and understands that the guard won’t blow his whistle until it’s safe to depart.  Both children also know that you can only stand on the seats if you take your shoes off….

And that you mustn’t lean out of the window in case you get a smut in your eye (or as worried Rara thinks, in case you fall out of the train!).  They also know that Grandad can be relied upon to produce biscuits and drinks after the ride, so hurry home ahead to be sure to get first choice from the biscuit tin.  Happy childhood days!