BEST CARDIO MACHINE TO LOSE WEIGHT

Poppleton Nursery Railway, skip wagon 18.

As your train enters or exits Poppleton station, just 3 miles from York (North Yorkshire, UK) to the Harrogate end of the station is a cluster of buildings, assembled in wood, brick and glass, these all form part of the old Railway nursery.

Not a playschool for wannabe train drivers but a nursery in the horticultural sense, formed by the Railway companies after WW2 to provide fresh fruit and vegetables to Railway canteens and hotels, the nursery was part of a network of similar properties throughout the country.

As the railway's reliance upon home grown food tailed off the railway nurseries continued to grow flowers and plants to brighten stations around the railway network and for special events and exhibitions.

Forced to close in 2006 the nursery became a base for maintenance personel and the function of it's buildings was restricted to tea making and storage facilities, the wooden buildings suffered from rapid decay and the greenhouses were largely destroyed by the elements (and other factors)

In 2009 a group of conservation, horticulture and railway enthusiasts got together and secured the lease of the site, a group of volunteers gather regularly to restore the buildings and the industrial narrow gauge railway, once used to transport plants and materials around the nursery.

Community groups and rehabilitation groups use the facilities on a daily basis and the nursery is now growing plants again, brightening regional stations with it's home grown blooms (as it was always meant to) and selling plants to the public through sales in partnership with the NHS.

If you ever find yourself on that train between York and Harrogate, have a look out of the window about 3 miles from York or better still, jump off at Poppleton station and have a little look at this historic site, maybe even sign up to help knock the place back into shape...

Two days' hard graft
A skip full, a home empty
Sticks of sticks of furniture
Enough plywood to build a boat
Broken glass and mirrors
That black and white TV
And the unworkable hi-fi stack
with its awesome collection
of Mantovani's hits
A christmas tree, disjointed
Half a dozen demijohns
Ornaments, bric-a-brac, mirrors, a lamp
Books, prints, games and frames
Paint pots and brushes, tools of the trade
Broken lawnmowers and smashed glass
An unfeasibly long bamboo pole
And perched on top, beside Donkey
in that walnut-finish dresser we couldn't bear to smash:
The last mattress, still warm.