Country house with its own railway station where residents can flag down trains goes on sale for £425,000

A country house with its own working railway station where residents can flag down passing trains has gone on the
market for £425,000.
The five-bedroom stone house, which has gone on the market for £425,000, boasts its own 'halt', a private train stop where residents can flag down passing locomotives. It connects to the Talyllyn Railway which runs between the former slate mining town of Abergynolwyn and the seaside village of Tywyn in Snowdonia National Park in Wales.


A footpath from the Winterton's house leads through woodland and a valley to the halt (BNPS).
The house and railway stop is being sold by Tim and Jill Winterton , who have owned it since 1975. Daughter Shane Flutter said: "It was the most magical place to enjoy a childhood.

"At the bottom of the fields in the valley is the railway and there is a small halt there.
"Any time people came to stay we would go down to the railway and jump on the train up to the Dolgogh waterfalls nearby or up to Abergynolwyn.
"It was just a case of flagging down passing trains as they approached the halt. "Nowadays it is our children who have been enjoying the railway.
"The house means so much to our family but we have all moved away and it has become too much to look after."

The Winterton's station is accessed via a footpath from their house which leads through woodland and a valley.
The halt was a Victorian predecessor to the train platform. It was created around 1900 to serve the farm and is simply marked by a small signpost next to the railway track.

It is located around half a mile from the nearest train stops in either direction. The house that now stands on the property was once two cottages that were made into one property in the 1970s. It includes a reception hall, a kitchen and breakfast room, conservatory, sitting room, drawing room and a utility room.

It also has a stone barn which has been converted into a studio, workshops, stables and stores.
Malcolm Wood, secretary of the Railway Heritage Trust, said that halts were the forerunners to full-blown train stations
and served rural communities.

He said: "People would stand at the halt and hail approaching trains which would stop to pick them up. "Likewise, if you were on the train you pre-warned the guard that you wanted to alight at a particular halt.
"Once very much a feature of Britain's railways, some halts from the early 20th century still exist, and still operate on
the request system.

"But they are not very common these days, and it is quite unusual to find a halt in such simple form adjacent to a private house."
Belinda Hutchinson-Smith, from estate agents Strutt and Parker, said: "This house has one of the most beautiful views imaginable embracing both the Cardigan Bay and the hills of Snowdonia.

"You can really feel its been a much loved family home and there is a wonderful feel of timelessness about it. "There can be few houses which enjoy the novelty of its own private halt from where you can wave down the steam train which travels up and down the valley."