B&B · Box
Lorne House
A family-run Victorian bed and breakfast on London Road in Box, the Rev. W. Awdry's boyhood home, with eight en-suite rooms and the whole house to rent for groups of up to 20.
Family-friendly · EV charging
A friendly, practical base for Bath, Lacock and Castle Combe, with rooms for three and parking on site. Families are welcome, and groups can take the whole house; anyone with a dog will need to look elsewhere.
- Good: Children of all ages welcome; cots and highchairs on request
- Good: Three rooms sleep three; rooms 2 and 3 have baths
- Good: Parking on site and a 7kW EV charger (charged extra)
- Worth knowing: No pets except assistance dogs
- Worth knowing: Two rooms on the lower ground floor and two on the second floor
- Worth knowing: Overflow parking in the surgery car park must move by 8am on weekdays
About
Lorne House is a Victorian house on London Road in Box, where Wilbert Awdry, who went on to write the Thomas the Tank Engine stories, lived as a boy from 1920 to 1928, when the family called it Journey's End; the house says the steam engines working the incline at Box helped shape his stories. Harry and Eliza took over the bed and breakfast from Eliza's parents in January 2026, after working there for several years.
There are eight en-suite rooms on three floors: doubles and twins, and three rooms that take three people. Rooms 2 and 3 have baths, the rest have wet-room showers, and you book a room type rather than a particular room, so ask ahead if a floor or a bath matters. Breakfast, included in bed and breakfast rates, is served from 7.30am to 9am on weekdays and 8am to 9.30am at weekends, cooked to order with Wiltshire bacon and sausages and eggs from Box, and guests can use the sitting room, the verandah and a fridge in the shared kitchen in the evening.
Children of all ages are welcome, with travel cots and highchairs (cots are free, cot bedding £10 a stay, or bring your own), but pets are not, apart from assistance dogs. Groups can also take the whole house on a self-catering basis for up to 20, for two nights or more. The village pubs are close by, and the Quarryman's Arms is up on Box Hill. Bath Spa and Chippenham, the nearest stations, are each about seven miles away.
The details
- Serving
- Breakfast
- Rooms
- 8
- Check-in
- 4pm to 7pm
- Check-out
- By 10.30am (whole house by 11am)
- Minimum stay
- Whole-house stays two nights.
- Features
- Garden or terrace · Family rooms · Parking · Wi-Fi
- History
- Victorian house; the Awdry family's home from 1920 to 1928
- Parking
- On-site parking for up to eight cars, with more in the next-door surgery car park overnight and at weekends (move by 8am on weekdays). A 7kW Type 2 EV charger, charged separately.
Photos
A triple room 
A second-floor room 
The verandah 
The breakfast room
Location
Accessibility
- Assistance dogs welcome
Nearby walks, places and things to do
- The Quarryman's Arms, Box 0.9 km away
- The Northey Arms 1.1 km away