A sad but thought provoking website

[old_windbag]

Not sure if anyone on here ever visits websites like the one here below I've made a lot of visits to it.

https://www.derelictplaces.co.uk/main/rural-sites/35426-echo-cottage-cambridgeshire.html?s=5406e010f2386eff558055e728eca716#.WbhjN8aQzIU

I find it quite sad in many respects but it's nice to see how nature takes everything back. I always want to know the back story where a place such as above was occupied by a resident( rather than a public building like a hospital ). The place above is a little time capsule with guitar amps, record player... even rovers under loads of vegetation. What happened to the owner, suddenly taken ill?, died in the house? just makes me want to know their lifestory it looks more interesting than any celebrities.

The people who go into these buildings don't go in to damage or destroy( as many ignorant may ) simply to record these fascinating buildings/time capsules that nature is often taking back as it's own. There are a lot of interesting disused hospitals/asylums.

[Ben@Forest]

I think images like this must fascinate a lot of people because it's the sort of thing Sunday supps will often run; Chernobyl today, abandoned engineering projects, bygone subterranean defence works such as the Maginot Line etc.

I quite enjoy them. I once visited a farm which had a substantial crumbling pile amongst the fields. The farmer said, 'I'm leaving it as it is, it's got owls in it.'

And when on holiday in NZ many years ago l went to a old gold mining town which, to my disapoinment had been Disneyfied. However when walking beyond the public area and into the surrounding bush l found a mouldering and vegetation covered locomotive, fantastic - though half of me would liked to have seen it restored!

[old_windbag]

though half of me would liked to have seen it restored!

There's a bit of that too, or a large disused hospital/church that could be re-used in a different function...... but I still like the feel of nature reclaiming it, as it will us too.

Also when looking at the images taken it's the poignancy of little things likes a photo of someones mam or a cat or dog. The basic ornaments on a windowsill..... all things that may have been special to someone in life now simply forgotten. For anyone living alone without relatives old age is not easy for them at all when in ill health.

Actually on a similar vein I've often wondered what happens to peoples homes/possessions when they go down for a long stretch. Does someone(state) organise storage for their possessions and sell any property or is it just left in limbo? Perhaps some of these properties are such.

[Psamathe]

Interesting. and excellent photography for the particular one you linked to (not checked on others on teh site yet).

Ian

[old_windbag]

and excellent photography for the particular one you linked to

Glad you noticed that, I never made mention of it but it made a definite visual impact on me. Perhaps they used HDR on some shots but they have very good qualities wrt detail and colour/exposure.

I visited a few more abandoned cottages/farmhouses and many are remnant time capsules of their former "lost" owners. The railwaymans cottage is good. It's gross trespassing in many ways but not done in malice and these places seem simply forgotten. But if you have no relatives and die in a hospital perhaps your home is forgotten( always thought it went to state ).

I've also visited some of the disused asylums in my area( online ), one of which a relative worked for a time. The walls peeling and buddleia and ferns growing from walls and floors. Also in these you'd find office desks with draws open and reams of paperwork, staplers, punches....... as if the 4 minute warning had been given rather than an organised hospital closure.

[pete75]

There's an interesting derelict place not far from me - Bass Maltings at Sleaford. https://www.28dayslater.co.uk/sleaford- ... -15.t98606

[old_windbag]

Some nice images again very sharp and detailed. The spiral staircase is very nice. I used to drive up the A1 regularly and I always would remember the sign for sleaford as I always associated its position with what looked like an art deco'ish ace cafe style building in white. I've looked on google maps but cannot find it, perhaps the A1 has been widened since and it was demolished.

Edit:
I found the building I was looking for, it was wansford not sleaford and is a 1932 building so deco style

https://www.flickr.com/photos/frmark/5927723024

[mercalia]

depressing. some ones life left. I only hope the things were just discarded. shame no more information as you are inclinded to think the worst?

[mercalia]

I referred this to a hifi forum and you might like to see what they said

http://www.pinkfishmedia.net/forum/showthread.php?t=206383

seems like some interesting speculations and the gear there not cheap

[RickH]

There's an interesting derelict place not far from me - Bass Maltings at Sleaford. https://www.28dayslater.co.uk/sleaford- ... -15.t98606

Channel 4 made/commissioned/bought a few short videos under the banner "Drones in Forbidden Places" & Bass Maltings was one of them.

[youtube]lwFwQkHqEk8[/youtube]

[old_windbag]

I referred this to a hifi forum and you might like to see what they said

Thats good we"ll see how it evolves. I think someone on the derelict comments said it was high end in its time. The farfisa makes me think of mike oldfield tubular bells but it must have just been popular in prog rock days. Bizarrely before seeing this post i was on youtube listening to the world in action theme and also nantucket sleighride by mountain. Very much proggy and in their case i think hammond organ.

It may well be that music was this mans life, a good way to pass the time between birth and death. I've known people to have no furnishings but just a simple home for the things they love. Not everyone is fixated by settees and oak dining table sets. When you see a life laid out like that it really does make you wonder who they were, music, rovers, motorbike.......

There are some really interesting places on that site.

Edit: I think the post on the floor in doorway may give a big clue as to previous owner. Also raised toilet seat and handrail for bath points to someone perhaps in winter of their lives. There is a modernish washing machine maybe yr 2000+ and also some low energy lightbulbs. The record sleeve? next to bottle crate looks interesting but I could not zoom far enough to keep text detail, also the record on turntable will be interesting to know what it is. The car regs may give a clue also but they are very old probably outside of online dvla records.

There always seems to be a common theme of old brown suitcase in a lot of these deserted homes .

[axel_knutt]

I've browsed that site numerous times. It's got my old school, my employers, and the abandoned village my family comes from.

[mercalia]

I've browsed that site numerous times. It's got my old school, my employers, and the abandoned village my family comes from.

sounds ominous - does a dark shadow follow you where ever you go?

[jgurney]

I've often wondered what happens to peoples homes/possessions when they go down for a long stretch. Does someone(state) organise storage for their possessions and sell any property or is it just left in limbo?

Usually people who get long sentences also owe substantial amounts (repaying what they stole, compensating those they assaulted, proceeds of drug dealing confiscated, etc) and their valuable property often gets sold to cover that.

[Cunobelin]

It is sad.... I spent many years at the Royal Hospital Haslar and this department

This is my old Park Gamma Camera:



This is the old Adac Gamma camera and PET Camera





Many an early morning was spent manufacturing radioipharmaceuticals in this isolator:



Shame the author thought that the Gamma Camera was an MRI when he took a selfie..