A couple have won a two year planning battle to use a converted former railway carriage as a quirky holiday let.

Andrea Pearman, 53, and Richard Coleman, 65, transformed a Great Western Railway coach into a rural £175 a night staycation spot in 2022.

The carriage, in Little Downham, UK, features the original seats, windows, luggage racks, and even its emergency stop handle.

The couple's retirement project was showcased in an episode of the Channel 4 show George Clarke's Amazing Spaces.

Their first attempt to get retrospective planning permission for the holiday accommodation was refused in 2022.

East Cambridgeshire District Council argued that the couple's labour of love was 'unsustainably located'.

However in March, East Cambridgeshire District Council agreed permissions after reviewing a new application bolstered by guests flocking to the carriage.

Ms Pearman said: "Winning the planning application was quite monumental."

"Originally they turned it down because they said there wasn't a need for it and they don't support development in the countryside."

"But in the meantime, we were open and accepting guests - we could prove there was a demand."

"I didn't think we needed planning permission as it's a moveable, non-permanent structure."

"Our main offering is that it is quiet, rural, and peaceful. People come here to unwind."

The GWR carriage is split into two rooms for £175 a night - the Penzance suite which sleeps four and the Paddington for two guests.

Visitors can enjoy a hot tub, air conditioning, bathroom and shower plus their own private garden area in the rural countryside.

Ms Pearman and Mr Coleman were originally going to convert a boat into holiday let on their pond but discovered they couldn't maintain the water levels.

The couple were lucky to discover the former train carriage for £3k through a friend and transported it by lorry down from Great Marston, Yorks.

After months of renovations, the couple, who used to run an equestrian centre in Suffolk, opened their luxury accommodation in 2022.

Ms Pearman said: "The carriage had only come off the track in 2021 and was in really good condition. "

"We had to redesign the bathroom including moving the waste pipes and that was quite the ordeal as train floors aren't meant to be drilled through."

"It looks really simple like we've just ripped out the seats and luggage racks but we stripped it down to the bare bones. "

"We've had all the paint colour matched so hopefully you can't tell what's new and what's original. It is still a train."

"Nothing got thrown away. We donated all the underneath gubbings to the local heritage line to bring another carriage back to life. "

"All the interior chairs and fittings were bought buy Apple TV to create a TV set for the programme Slow Horses."

"Stainless steel air vent covers have become fencing and the water tanks have become an outside oversized sofa."

The moving of the train carriage through winding country lanes cost the couple £10k while the refurb of each end cost them £25k.

Ms Pearman laughed: "It has been a money pit - hence why the planning permission was such a drama."

East Cambridgeshire District Council argued in 2022 that the development was "unsustainably located" in the open countryside."

It added that "insufficient justification" had been given to demonstrate the need for it."

Having already welcomed guests, the couple went on to submit a new application to 'prove the need' and the district council agreed to grant planning permission last month.

They accepted that: "The additional evidence submitted as part of the current application appears to demonstrate that the accommodation is meeting a need for development in a rural location."

"The proposal is considered to be of an appropriate scale and would not have any significant adverse impact on the character and appearance of the area, nor in terms of the nature or amount of traffic that would be generated."

Ms Pearman said they have been very busy with raving guests over the past two-and-a-half years.

She added: "We've had a returning guest who used to work for Great Western Railway who has visited us three times."

"He used to work on this very carriage as a guard. "

"We have had a lot of train drivers where their wives book it as a surprise. They come and they're blown away."

"I didn't realise how many people love trains, fanatically. "

"Our guests don't want to leave."