Look local: A town on the right tracks

Once the headquarters of Great Western Railway’s repair workshop, Swindon has flourished since the early days of steam.

Located 35 miles from Bristol, the Wiltshire market town was chosen by celebrated Victorian engineer Isambard Kingdom Brunel as the ideal location from which to maintain steam locomotives destined for London.

Today, the workshop – now a listed building – is home to 105 retail stores after it was converted into a designer outlet in the late 1990s. In fact, so large is the site of the original workshop, the structure also houses the National Trust head office, which helps to preserve sites of natural and historic importance across the UK, including the nearby Ashdown House.