A popular Lake District café, known for its unique transport theme, has welcomed a vintage bus to its site.
Bassenthwaite Lake Station, near Keswick, is restoring a Commer Commodore 1949 single decker bus and will transform it into a waiting and relaxing space for guests.
Diana Parmus, who owns the café with her partner Simon, said the idea was part of wider work to perfect the site, which has seen in the renovation of the old railway station that closed in 1966.
Visitors dine in a French SNCF steam train that featured in the 2017 film of Murder on the Orient Express – the duo added the former film set as an extension to the café.
Diana said: “Our new bus purchase was actually inspired by a vintage bus we had visit us for a wedding.
“We are short for space on the train, it is quite tight fixed seating, so we wanted the flexibility of an area where people can gather to look at menus before their tables are ready and to create a more relaxed space for guests to enjoy.
“Transport seems to be our thing and what we’ve discovered is that everyone loves a train and from chatting with people everyone loves a vintage bus as well.
“It fits in really well with the era of the steam train, we also have a red telephone box that houses our defibrillator and sits neatly next to the old station – so the bus will be very complementary within the wider site.”
Diana described the bus as slightly derelict and said the restoration of the vehicle would take around three to four months.
She said: “It won’t take us as long as its initial appearance might give the impression. Although it’s in poor nick, it has an aluminium shell, so it’s not rusty. We want to conserve it and change it back to its original state.
“It will end up as a fixed bus in our car park and the colour scheme will be blood and custard, which is the theme we have for the whole station. It’s very much railway colours and will look very striking.”
The pair also plan to make the bus accessible and are working on a way to install a ramp.
Diana added: “It’s quite important to us that the station is accessible, so we’ll be inventive to get a ramp into it.
“It’s all very exciting, this place at the moment is so dynamic, there are lots of people working on the next thing to enhance visitor experience.
“We’ve got a derelict pair of signalman’s cottages on site and that’s going to be our next big project restoring them.
“We need a new baking facility and some kitchen prep areas, so it will have exactly the same appearance as it originally did, but there will be prep and storage areas inside.”
