An “early Christmas present” has been delivered to volunteers at a historic railway in North Dorset.

Volunteers at the Shillingstone Station project received an unexpected gift of £1,000 from supporters, Jan and Michel L’Hours.

The couple, who run businesses on the Isle of Wight, are regular visitors to the station, calling in to admire progress on the restoration project whenever they visit the mainland.

Operations director, William Munden, said the donation was an early Christmas present for the station, adding that he could not thank Jan and Michel enough.

The money would be spent on regeneration of the station area and track at Shillingstone, said Mr Munden.