Street Youth Hostel

Tess & I enjoyed (well, sort of) a very hot not-the-park-run run even at 8.15 this morning.

After breakfast I pottered in the garden while Tess did a bit of shopping we forgot yesterday.

This afternoon we took a stroll on Street Hill which is the site of the village's Youth Hostel. Designed and built in 1914 in the style of a Swiss chalet by two local sisters as a summerhouse it was donated to a local charity which used it to provide a holiday and rest home to local people who were suffering from illness or poverty.

Because the area was designated a beauty spot by the National Trust in 1919 it attracted a lot of tourists and the building was used in the 1920s as refreshment rooms for visitors to the area.

Around the time the Youth Hostel Association was founded in 1931 the building was leased to the YHA, becoming the first Hostel in England and it is now the oldest hostel still in operation.

Electricity wasn't installed until 1959 and until 1971 visitors had to pump all water by hand.

It's been refurbished numerous times over the years and still seems to be popular with visitors, although of course it's not open at the moment.