1. Change Bank Using an ethical bank that doesn’t support fossil fuels is the single most powerful thing you can do to help the environment. Ethical banks include Triodos, Starling, The Cooperative Bank and Nationwide. The credentials of your bank can be checked at bank.green and there’s a blog here with a list of suggestions: https://wise.com/gb/blog/ethical-banks-uk […]
Full Steam Ahead! Top Tips for Seeing Charter Trains in Cornwall in 2026
Mainline steam and diesel specials Nothing quite beats the whoosh of a steam train through the station. Guests to our holiday carriages in St Germans and Hayle can always expect plenty of passenger service trains and a bit of freight, but when the specials thunder through it really is a very special experience. We’ll be seeing […]
The Best of St Germans and the Rame Peninsula
At the mouth of the Tamar, on one side scored with beautiful beaches and quaint fishing villages, on the other deep river valleys and the rolling countryside the Rame Peninsula is a gem in the Cornish crown. Slightly off the beaten track, it offers the discerning traveller exceptional natural beauty unsullied by crowds. Like the […]
Our journey to net zero – Decarbonising our energy use
Running any business requires energy, and we are not in a position to go for complete self generation, although we do have some solar panels. So we rely on external providers. Along with making sure we have green energy, we also have worked hard to reduce our usage. We are currently carbon neutral in electricity […]
Our Snowdrop Collection
When we first bought our woods in the 1993 we planted a small clump of snowdrops from our friends Bernie and Jeanie Skewes’s garden. (Bernie was a sign writer, poet, poacher and actor, who’s claim to fame was as the first UK Tarzan in the 1930s and the author of a Poacher’s Tale – a […]
The best dog friendly beaches in South East Cornwall
If you bring your dog on holiday to one of our Railholiday carriages, they’ll love a trip to the beach. Below are our recommendations. For easy access Seaton and Cawsand are the best. For wild open space and miles of yomping, then Whitsand Bay on a low tide is hard to beat. For public transport […]
How to be a safe outdoor swimmer, with top tips on the best bathing spots
I have been outdoor swimming (mainly in the sea) all year round since November 2017. Outdoor swimming is wonderful; in my experience it has improved my immune system, helped me negotiate hard times and made me feel very alive. However it is not without risks; and sadly these risks have been at the fore in […]
How to tackle plastic pollution
What weather we have been having! The stormy seas and full rivers have bought in large quantities of plastic beach waste, so over the last few weeks I’ve been filling bags with rubbish. A sizeable portion of the rubbish is fishing waste; broken lobster pots, ghost nets, filament and fish boxes. There’s bits of cut […]
How to build an empire – our first carriage, The Old Luggage Van
We became owners of a holiday business by complete chance, but if we have anyone to thank or blame it is probably our friend Mike from Bristol, who used to (and still does) regularly stay with us from time to time. The original plan was that the station would have one bedroom, and that a […]
How to explore Rame Head, Cawsand, Kingsand and Penlee Point
The area around Rame is stunning and perfect to explore by foot. The coastal footpath joins Mount Edgecumbe at Cremyll to Kingsand, then continues onwards to Rame and Whitsand Bay. This is complimented by a double decker bus (the number 70) that follows the coast road, before heading onwards to Torpoint, making it easy to […]