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• Spend some time in our Gardens...
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Ten stations spaced out along the 23 mile length of the longest Heritage Railway in Britain, from Bishops Lydeard in the Vale of Taunton Deane to Minehead on the Bristol Channel coast.
All but a couple of stations have something of gardening interest, and one or two are simply a must to visit. Entrance is gained either by platform ticket (20p or so each!) or free. Donations are always welcomed. Car parking is free to visitors and passengers (except at Minehead where there is a Council car park next door, and at Doniford, which has no parking at all), and all are accessible to wheelchairs. You could, of course, hop on a passing steam train to get to the next station.
Blue Anchor and Washford each have well-stocked museums, Bishops Lydeard a visitor centre, and Dunster's waiting room is simply a time-warp.
The maritime environment of the coastal stations adds interest, and the soils range from limestones through sandstones, to clay. Wildlife is very present - red deer can be seen at Crowcombe when things quieten down; swallows at Washford; buzzards at Stogumber; primroses everywhere; and orchids on the grassy embankments.
Many station buildings date from the 1850s and 1860s and are built in the lovely warm red sandstone quarried locally, and are often "listed" buildings. All have been lovingly restored by volunteers over a twenty five year period, along with the station platforms and gardens - all well worth a good browse. If the gardeners are present, they will enjoy a good old chin-wag about anything from gardening to trains to the weather!
Refreshments can be obtained at Bishops Lydeard and Minehead, and at other stations from time to time. Toilets at most stations - some modern, some are almost antiques!
The Railway runs on most days throughout the summer, and the Stations are usually open most weekends throughout the year.
Minehead Station gardens, at around three acres, are outstandingly the largest on the railway and suffer from being in the town centre (litter and vandalism) and on the sea front (salt in the air).
The gardens can be divided into three distinct aspects.
First there are the formal flower beds on the platforms, alongside the refreshment coach and bordering the car park outside the storage sheds and portakabin offices. All these beds are dug into paved areas with hard-core below the surfacing, as all have been created where none existed before. Planting has to take into account the limited funds and manpower available for maintenance and the poor soil, litter, trampling and soiling by dogs.
Secondly there are the seasonal hanging baskets and tubs which have won awards from the Minehead in Bloom judges and general acclamation the general public. The baskets need constant attention during the season as they dry out very quickly and take frequent battering in the sea breezes.
Finally there is the strip of land which stretches from the main station building alongside the sidings and running line as far as Seaward Way level crossing.
Although this latter part of the garden is only glimpsed from a train a public footpath runs the full length so it receives close scrutiny by the many local residents who use the path regularly and by hordes of holidaymakers. This area is managed specifically to encourage wild flowers and over 130 species have been recorded. This policy also benefits wild birds and animals. We have blackbirds, mallard, robins and sparrows nesting and all the common town garden birds regularly visiting. We have seen black redstarts, goldfinches and greenfinches, a kestrel regularly hawks overhead and many seabirds fly over. Badger, fox, otter (yes! otter) and rabbit all visit and large numbers of mice, shrews and voles live there. Butterflies, grasshoppers and other insects abound. Sticklebacks live in the ditch and there are three colonies of slow worms.
It was the "wild" area which was chosen to feature in Minehead's international Nations in Bloom competition in 2002. Minehead won second place in the Small Town category, and the three volunteers who are the regular gardening team are proud of the part they played in this achievement.
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• Check out these stations...
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The Station Gardens
