8. The Old Station, Allerston, North Yorkshire

It was 1950 when the last passenger boarded a train at Ebberston station, actually at Allerston, just five miles from Pickering and the North Yorkshire Moors Railway. Set in two acres, three imaginatively converted carriages sleeping four to six people, and the Ticket Office with two double bedrooms (for adults only), are a perfect base for the North York Moors and the coast at Scarborough. 

The Ticket Office lounge includes one of the fine maps of the North Eastern Railway, comprising 64 glazed tiles made by Craven Dunnill of Jackfield in Shropshire, now part of the Ironbridge Gorge Museum. Children’s toys, games and bicycles are provided. There is bike hire at Dalby Forest and at Hawsker station for rides along the track-bed of the Scarborough-Whitby line.

From £848 per week (theoldstationallerston.co.uk).

9. The Old Signal Box, Wall, Northumberland

The first station out of Hexham on the Border Counties Railway, Wall lost its passenger service in 1956, but the station building and stone-built signal box survive. The latter has been converted into a well-appointed snug for two, with underfloor heating. 

As its name suggests, Wall is a good base for exploring Hadrian’s Wall and walking some of the footpath created parallel with it, using the AD 122 Hadrian’s Wall Country Bus for linear walks. Kielder Forest is only a few miles to the north west.

From £550 per week (theoldsignalbox.co.uk).

10. Off the Rails, Plockton

Arrival by train at this operating-but-unmanned station is by one of the finest railway journeys in Britain, from Inverness to the springboard for Skye at Kyle of Lochalsh. Plockton is two stops before the terminus, and the elegant station building of 1897 has been converted into a well-equipped holiday home with two bedrooms. The original varnished pine interiors give a warm feeling to the former gentlemen’s waiting room and stationmaster’s office, now a kitchen/dining room and bedroom respectively, and the former gentlemen’s lavatory is now a wet room and sauna.

Among the surrounding attractions are the castles of Dunvegan, Armadale and Eilean Donan and famous gardens benefiting from the Gulf Stream, such as Inverewe, Attadale and the Lochalsh Woodland Garden at Balmacara. Great walks nearby are legion.

From £650 per week (plocktonstation.co.uk).