AN AWARD winning guesthouse in Sale that remains a legacy of Manchester’s great age of the railway is being renovated and restored to its former glory.

Owners Steve and Angela Vernon are working with the Sale-based painters and restorers A Whitfield & Sons to return the Brooklands Lodge in Marsland Road back to its 1851 state when it, coincidently, had the same name as the current owners and was known as Vernon Lodge.

Steve said: “Until the 1840s, land in this part of Sale was the least valuable as its thin soil was poor for growing crops. Almost overnight, however, the opening of the railway changed all that, and land closest to the railway began selling at the highest prices.

“Vernon Lodge was probably the first house in Sale to be built for a then steady influx of Manchester merchant and professional classes. It was designed for Peter Royle, a Manchester born surgeon, and his wife Marianne, as a monogrammed date stone on one gable end testifies.”

The couple have had the ‘Donkey Red’ paint removed from the front steps to expose the original sandstone staircase and taken away the 1970’s Perspex from the internal stairwell to reveal the original stained glass window bearing the Royle family coat of arms.

Steve and Angela have spent the past five years and nearly £10,000 on renovation work and most recently removed plywood from the front bays to reveal the original oak timbers.

Brooklands Lodge is currently ranked second in a TripAdvisor rating of 93 B&Bs in Greater Manchester.