Steam Train Adventure in the Forest of Dean! Perrygrove Railway Adventure

Nestled in the stunningly beautiful Forest of Dean, Gloucestershire, and just south of the principal town in the Forest, Coleford, is the Perrygrove Railway Adventure.

This 15” gauge railway is a firm family favourite thanks to the efforts of owners David and Katherine Nelson-Brown to create something that appeals to all ages and provides an affordable, family day out. There are woodland walks, play areas for the young ones, a Treetop Adventure trail for the more adventurous, a café, a shop and loads of places to have picnics and just enjoy the peaceful surroundings.

But this is also a proper little railway. Rarely will you find steam engines as immaculately presented as these and on a railway that is as neat and tidy as any we have ever seen.

Richard & Madeline Bowker and their daughter Lucy visited the Perrygrove Railway to see first-hand what is on offer – and they came away delighted and impressed.

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Credits:
Presenters – Nigel Harris (@railnigel on X) & Richard Bowker CBE (@SRichardBowker). General Manager: Stef Foster (@stefatrail)

The Forest of Dean is one of Britain’s loveliest areas of countryside, situated mainly in Gloucestershire, it is known for its extensive woodland, its ancient oaks, and long standing
mineral extraction over hundreds of years. The administrative centre of the forest is the market town of Coleford, and just to the south of Coleford is one of Britain’s loveliest hidden gem railways, the 15 inch gauge Perrygrove Railway, or, as its savvy marketing material calls it, the Perrygrove Railway Adventure. Built in 1996 and always run as a family business, it is owned by David and Katherine Nelson-Brown, who live on site with their children, as well as their many animals.. The Nelson-Browns also owned the similar 15- inch gauge steam railway in Evesham, Worcestershire,
about an hour away from Perrygrove. I spoke with David about the vision for the Perrygrove Railway Adventure. We are a steam railway, a heritage railway, that people would be familiar with, but we’re a lot more than that. We’re not a theme park, so it’s a 22 acre site. It’s a bit like, imagine a farm park without the animals. It’s an outdoor space, there’s playgrounds, there’s a coffee shop, a café, train rides, and it all kind of meshes together But our market is predominantly a young family market We’re trying to be not I wouldn’t use the word a cheap day out, but an affordable day out. So a family of four people, two adults, two children, typically, can come have lunch and an ice cream as well as a half a day to a day out here for £60, 70 pounds, which actually is pretty good value in today’s money if you plan your big day out three months in advance to the theme park, then that’s a once a year, twice a year kind of experience, whereas we have a huge base of customers that come literally week after week with their season tickets, and it’s ’cause it’s a good value place for them to go The site is immaculate. Nothing is out of place, yet it does not feel contrived in any way, just very professional. I asked David what his motivation had been for wanting to own and run something like this. I’ve worked across the scales and gauges. I’ve worked in Network Rail, I’ve worked with standard gauge steam and other commercial theme park railway operations. And this is that happy medium across the two, and we wanted to settle down, find a place to raise a family,
and this is a way of life, this isn’t a job. This is what I do When I wake up and when I go to sleep and what I wake up in the middle of the night shouting about and have to write notes about, because it’s what we live and breathe and sleep. So this is our way of life Looking around the site, there’s plenty for a family to do. There are woodland walks. There’s a lovely undercover play area at Foxy Hollow for the little ones And the not so little ones….. And there are plenty of picnic benches in the large, grassy areas. There’s a Tree top adventure for those who are, well, a little more adventurous, and there’s a lovely café that sells reasonably priced and tasty food, and of course, there are the trains. Yet the operations team on site seems pretty lean, and there’s certainly no one just standing around We all muck in, we all do a bit of everything. There is no P Way (Permanent Way) gang, there is no gardening team. There is ‘a’ team, and we all do a bit of it all. In the last 12 weeks, we we have concluded a ten year overhaul on a steam engine that’s needed for next weekend’s wedding We’ve relayed 150 meters of track and renewed a level crossing. We’ve improved some of the play equipment, we’ve redecorated inside the cafe, and it’s the same team of people that have done all of those things, chipping in, because it’s one small team As it to prove the point that everyone gets involved in every aspect of the railway, it’s David’s turn to take a train from the bottom station, up the line, and then back down. Naturally, it’s a wonderful opportunity to see the railway from the best seat in the house, the footplate. The line is about three quarters of a mile long, and it’s in the form of a giant lazy S. But it has some steep sections and is a challenge for the driver I am 40 this year. I don’t plan to go and work for anybody else on the basis that I was unemployable apparently 15 years ago. I’m definitely unemployable now. So this has got to work for us. This is our homes, where we live. live, where we brought the children up, where our animals are here We’re investing every penny we can all the time, and we’re trying to do things to last. My approach to it is that everything we build or put in or improve has to have a minimum of a 30 or 35 year life because I don’t want to do it again. I don’t mind stitching it up for my son Tom to deal with again,
but I don’t want to do it again So we are spending all the money we can. And that means that the place is relatively clean and tidy most of the time and we’re quite proud of the condition it’s in I love the fact that the Perrygrove Railway is the so called minimum gauge 15 inch, like the Ravenglass and Estkale Railway, the Ratty,
or the Romney, Hythe and Dymchurch Railway in Kent But as wonderful as those railways are, and they are both wonderful, they operate with scaled down versions of big engines, whereas the engines here at Perrygrove and are not scaled down. It’s like visiting a slightly smaller Tallylyn Festiniog, and it’s great fun just to watch. Although David and Katherine have been really smart in the way they market the railway with clever initiatives such as the various packages they offer schools at early years and foundation stage Or Key Stage 1 and 2. the Perrygrove Railway is not immune to the tough economic headwinds of the last few years. If there’s another big financial shock, a COVID like, experience again, I fear for the future of this and many other businesses who weathered that storm, partly through Government help, but partly through their own reserves, those reserves are gone and are not replenishing David is also CEO of the Bodmin Railway in Cornwall, a Standard Gauge Heritage Railway that has also had to look at creative ways to bring in new revenue. Ever the entrepreneur, David and the team at Bodmin have come up with a really impressive sideline that’s not really a sideline at all any more. For many years, the standard gauge, I call them the standard gauge, the traditional heritage Rail movement, have needed to diversify their income. We talk about this at HRA conferences,
Steve Oates talked about it in his interview with you. We need to change the market. Now, we’ve fortunately come up with an idea where we’re utilizing the resources of the company again. So we’ve still got that one bookkeeper. We’ve still got that one marketeer, for example. But we’re effectively running a second business So we are running the Cornish Rail Coffee Company is the trading name. And we’ve got taken catering outlets throughout the mainline railway network in Cornwall We’ve got five outlets in the Cornish Rail Coffee Company now, throughout Cornwall, right down to Penzance and St Erth for the St. Ives branch and then Bodmin Parkway and Liskeard and our own Bodmin General. And we’re talking in great detail about other outlets opening up as well It’s no secret that without the coffee shop business,
the Bodmin Railway would have gone bust by now. It’s that significant a contributor to the total revenues. In pure turnover terms, and I appreciate turnover is not profit, But in turnover terms, it now accounts for 45% of our company turnover So what then about the future? Is it continuous development or a period of stability to catch one’s breath? So I think we’ve had 10 years of quite a lot of growth. We’ve added a lot, we’ve changed a lot, we’ve expanded the operating calendar and operating pattern. I think we are reaching a point at Perrygrove, where it is what it is, and it needs constant renewal and replacement and improvement but not huge growth. Certainly, I don’t believe there’s huge growth in the market. The Forest of Dean is a very beautiful part of the world, but it does not attract many young families for holidays. It attracts a lot of teenagers and a lot of young couples in their 20s, 30s for activitiy holidays, canoeing, cycling. But the young family market, I’m pretty confident that actually we’ve got that buttoned up. There isn’t a great deal of those left that we could attract that we’re not already. So we’ve got to be realistic about that and say, well, we can’t just keep expanding. We’ve got to make do with what we’ve got. So I think our energies will be on growing and developing Evesham There are, after all, nine days in a week, and I’m only working seven of them David and Katherine have really focused on giving families
a great and affordable day out. Prices have been held since 2023 and at £10 for an adult day ticket, £8.50 for a child aged 2 to 15. Children under two are free, and there are discounts for disabled adults, children, and carers. There’s also a boomerang ticket, which allows you
50% off your second visit to Perrygrove. Brilliant if you’re holidaying in the area, and the kids put you under intense pressure for another visit It’s a great wet weather option too. Then there’s an annual pass, which at £44 for an adult and £32.50 for a child is superb value. I was aware of the Perrygrove Railway, but had never visited. And I’m so glad I’ve now rectified that, because although it is clearly aimed at families and providing an affordable day out, make no mistake – This is absolutely a proper little railway run by a team that clearly have a passion for the railways and do everything to the highest standards. There’s more more than a few railway organizations that might want to come and have a visit and see just how it’s done. As for the commercial side of things, it’s very impressive. David and Katherine have shown it is possible to diversify your income base and still provide an authentic experience. Long may they continue to be successful.