T HE coffee machine is overflowing, I’ve filled a sugar bowl with flour, the doorbell is ringing and 45 teenagers are in the garden needing drinks.

It’s day two of my fortnight on a working holiday in a unique B&B and museum called Talbot House in Poperinge, Belgium, and I’m on a fast learning curve.

I’m here because last summer, a group of Tynedale cyclists checked into Talbot House feeling tired, hungry, and wanting hot showers and cold beers.

But their needs were nothing compared to those of the original visitors a century ago.

Talbot House was a former brewer’s house, only eight miles from Ypres, that became a haven for thousands of soldiers recovering from, or en route to, trench warfare during the First World War.

It was taken over by an army chaplain called Philip ‘Tubby’ Clayton in 1915 to provide men with rest and relaxation.

Known as ‘Everyman’s Club’, its principles were friendship and equality, so generals rubbed shoulders with conscripted soldiers, and “abandon rank all who enter here” was a catchphrase.

Today, Talbot House is a living museum from 10am-5.30pm and then it becomes a bed and breakfast using the original rooms.

The handful of permanent staff depend on volunteer wardens who each spend a fortnight here.

One of the cyclists was so impressed, he immediately volunteered himself and his partner. So here we are.

Viewed from the street, no- one would ever guess that behind the imposing white front door lies a house, a separate museum and concert hall, a small building for exhibitions and a beautiful garden laid out as it was in 1915.

Records show that at its busiest, 5,000 men used Talbot House in one week. They slept wherever they could on the floor or in the garden, or gathered round the piano, played cards and wrote letters home as they recovered from the ordeal of life in the trenches.

Nowadays, up to 22 people can occupy the 10 bedrooms each night. The house is a listed property, run by the Talbot House Association, a Belgian not-for-profit charitable trust.

While all mod cons have been installed, it retains the original layout and features, with photographs, drawings and a piano from the era.

At the very top of the house, in what was once the store for hops, there is even a chapel furnished by the soldiers. It is still regularly used for services.

As volunteer wardens, we welcome guests, make gallons of tea and coffee and generally help wherever we’re needed. The days are long, but the time flies by.

Most visitors are British or Belgian. Many have seen the Commonwealth War Graves which show the scale of the slaughter of so many young men.

The cemeteries are immaculate, but still overwhelmingly shocking and sad. Talbot House gives a more humane dimension which everyone can identify with.

What makes it so special? Nick Cave, author of 15 books on the First World War, first came in 1970 when he and his father retraced the steps of his grandfather who kept a diary about his experiences on the Western Front.

He said: “I’ve been returning here for years. Very few changes have been made,so it has a spiritual connection and a commemorative feel.

“I love to stand in a place and think this is exactly where something happened. The soldiers lived very intensely day by day. This house is where they could let their hair down with others who shared the same experiences, but here they could forget about them.”

Every day, coachloads of British schoolchildren arrive and there are always talented musicians among them who play the ancient piano, overlooked by a large photo of soldiers apparently gazing down on them. Whenever I heard the music, I was reminded that those long-dead soldiers were probably only a couple of years older than the classmates now gathered round the pianist.

Just as I was beginning to think I was on top of the job, the BBC arrived unexpectedly early to film Songs of Praise, with presenter Sally Magnusson interviewing James Bickersteth about his great grandfather and four great uncles who all fought around Ypres. Their diaries and letters home were later published.

James said: “I feel overwhelmed being here. My great uncle wrote extensively about Talbot House. It’s an amazing place that makes me value the sacrifices people made and I appreciate my own life more.”

Talbot House was known to the soldiers of the Ypres Salient as Toc H (Toc being the signallers’ code for the letter T). When the war ended, the allies left and the owner of the house moved back in.

But so many ex-servicemen revisited their old haunt that it eventually became the foundation stone of the worldwide Christian movement called TOC H, established by Tubby Clayton. He created a living memorial, whereby the dead should be remembered by forging a new, more equal society.

To be honest, I never imagined volunteering to do anything connected with any war. But working in Talbot House taught me an enormous amount about the First World War, the intimate links that many feel for their forefathers who fought in it, and the importance of places where they can be remembered.

Talbot House is bracing itself for a really busy year in 2017 because of the commemoration of the Battle of Passchendaele.

For volunteers, that means endless hot drinks for hordes of visitors, loading the dishwasher and smiling until your face cracks. But it must be worth it. We’ve signed up for another two weeks next July. Book early to avoid disappointment!