This property encompasses a period cottage built in 1855 to house a signalman for the coastal railway line. Property editor Caroline Culot went to visit the delightfully sounding Snuggle Cottage, Main Road, Holkham, for sale for £595,000 with Abbotts.

Eastern Daily Press: Snuggle Cottage. Pic: www.abbotts.co.ukSnuggle Cottage. Pic: www.abbotts.co.uk

If you drive past Holkham Hall and follow the estate wall, past the turn off left which takes you to Burnham Market, the signalman's cottage is just past the bend in the road in an idyllic position with fantastic views from the front and a back garden still housing the remains of what once would have been the West Norfolk Junction Railway line.

Eastern Daily Press: Snuggle Cottage, Holkham. Pic: www.abbotts.co.ukSnuggle Cottage, Holkham. Pic: www.abbotts.co.uk

Prompted by the success of the Lynn and Hunstanton railway which had opened in 1862 to link King's Lynn with Hunstanton, the West Norfolk opened in 1866 at a time of austerity in the region and later became part of the Great Eastern Railway before it closed in 1952. It had also been opposed by the then Earl of Leicester who feared the line would bring a commercialisation of the area and too many visitors.

Eastern Daily Press: Snuggle Cottage, Holkham. Pic: www.abbotts.co.ukSnuggle Cottage, Holkham. Pic: www.abbotts.co.uk

Eastern Daily Press: Snuggle Cottage, Holkham. www.abbotts.co.ukSnuggle Cottage, Holkham. www.abbotts.co.uk

The property offers a rare opportunity for a project to extend and create a larger house which can maximise the views and the vendor has, in fact, had plans drawn up for such an extension. The house encompasses the original signalman's cottage which would probably have been just one bedroom, a living room, kitchen and bathroom and the current vendor opened up the fireplace to reveal the original brick one which no doubt the signalman would have sat around in the hard winters working and living by the railway line.

Eastern Daily Press: Snuggle Cottage, Holkham. Pic: www.abbotts.co.ukSnuggle Cottage, Holkham. Pic: www.abbotts.co.uk

Eastern Daily Press: Snuggle Cottage, Holkham. Pic; www.abbotts.co.ukSnuggle Cottage, Holkham. Pic; www.abbotts.co.uk

It's difficult to find out much about the signalman; census reports show that the station master for Holkham was a Loammi Kerridge Reynolds but there is no signalman named. His job would have been vital for the efficicent running of the railway line, altering the signals and ensuring trains had passed and the line was clear. Each train would have been logged by hand in a train register book. You can see remains of the line in the rear garden of the house for sale and the vendor keeps finding lots of massive screws and parts pertaining to the line.

Eastern Daily Press: Snuggle Cottage, Holkham. Pic: www.abbotts.co.ukSnuggle Cottage, Holkham. Pic: www.abbotts.co.uk

It seems so strange to think that this really private and remote rural location was once a busy thoroughfare for trains with passengers alighting and preparing for what was the last line where you could travel in a gas lit carriage pulled by a Victorian locomotive.

The cottage for sale is a project but offers a charming home in its current state. You have a cosy sitting room around the brick fireplace leading to a kitchen with Shaker units as well as three double bedrooms and a family bathroom. Outside is a half an acre plot with plenty of parking and a stunning setting with lots of walks, the beach and Holkham Hall all just a short distance away.

For more information contact Abbotts in Burnham Market on 01328 320034. www.abbotts.co.uk