Woman who grew up in house in middle of M62 reveals what it was like

The legendary house in the middle of the motorway on the M62 always causes you to double take, and wonder what it would actually be like living there.

But now Kimberley Pollard, who did used to live there, has finally revealed exactly what it was like growing up there.

The 24-year-old has spoken to LancsLive about her ‘happy, peaceful childhood memories of roaming around the farm’.

First off, she put to bed the claims that her grandfather, who originally owned the home when the motorway was built, refused to sell up.

It actually comes down to a geological fault at Stott Hall Farm that meant it couldn’t be tarmacked over. 

Kimberley said: “The story is my granddad was a stubborn old Yorkshireman who refused to move – but he’s actually from Lancashire! He had a broad Yorkshire accent from living up here for so long.

“He was far too subdued for that – and he wouldn’t have had a choice in the matter because the farm was rented from Yorkshire Water.”

In the interview, Kimberley stressed she had a happy childhood playing in the field in the middle of the M62, regularly feeding lambs. 

She said: “It was just a normal life for me. I was more interested in looking after the baby lambs! To me it was just a place I spent time growing up. It never struck me as being unusual.”

She added: “I used to stay in a big bedroom on the westbound carriageway side. There was triple glazing which kept out lots of noise. You’d sometimes wake up if someone beeped their car horn in the middle of the night, but the sound of the motorway used to send me to sleep.”

Kimberley also pointed out that the house was regularly visited by those who had broken down on the motorway, saying: “If people broke down they’d climb over the fence from the hard shoulder – but this was when the motorway was a bit quieter!

“Quite a few people used to come in and have a cup of tea and phone the breakdown people.

“Granddad and his wife at the time, Beth, were very welcoming.”

One of the weirdest stories Kimberley told was the importance of what you put on the fire, after she accidentally put plastic on the fire and caused a traffic jam as the smoke blew over the motorway.

The house was even used as the set to Where the Heart is, with Sarah Lancashire using Kimberley’s granddad’s bedroom as her dressing room.

She said: “Granddad spent ages making the outside look beautiful – but the TV crews came up and planted loads of reeds and made it look a dump!

“They didn’t use the inside for the programme. The set they used was really dingy and mucky, and I thought everyone was going to think the house was awful!”

She added: “Inside it was quite old fashioned with large rooms. The living room had wooden beams and family photos and lots of certificates, rosettes and trophies. It was a typical farmhouse. It had stone floors and dark furniture.

“There was a big open fire and all the rooms were fairly large. You had to mind your head walking through every room, which my dad found out pretty quickly!”

The current owners, Jill Falkingham-Thorp, husband Paul and her son John William revealed in 2017 that the house has surprisingly low levels of pollution for somewhere in the middle of a motorway.