After a long 3 hour drive courtesy of my super lady Sam who kindly drove me around the South of England for a day, I made my way into the woods and this long abandoned house. Exploring solo is always a risk - especially domestic dwellings - so the nerves were a little frayed even though I had been told it was easy to do.

Outside, the front of the house seems to be a more recent addition to the rear of the building which was probably a more typical rural cottage in its own right and originally built many decades ago. The old part of the building consisted of nothing more than 2 rooms downstairs and 2 rooms upstairs.

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Whilst in the newer part, photographing the main bedroom I could see a chap patrolling the house. I think he'd seen me being dropped off and was checking to see if I'd gone into the house. He soon left but it left me feeling a little unnerved. Maybe he owns the house or is just keeping an eye on it, who knows.

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The decay in the house was extensive in some parts whilst other parts had escaped. So many artefacts had been left behind including some interesting school exercise books belonging to a young lady called Janet; dated 1973. The main bedroom with the electric piano was probably her bedroom as an adult. The bedroom at the top of the staircase was fascinating due to it containing mainly children's items, suggesting when the house became abandoned there were children living there. The upstairs hallway was a death trap, the floor creaking with weakness below the parlous walls.

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Downstairs was as if the last residents just upped and left with so much left behind. Always nice to see a vintage Singer sewer along with other discarded items. In the original part of the house, the lounge was extensively decayed and dripping with damp.

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It was whilst I was downstairs that an almighty crash occurred at the back door. Whilst I gathered my thoughts and hid in the panty, I realised it was other explorers and not the aforementioned chap. My nerves were shredded for a few minutes there! The original lounge had a secret door up to the 2 upstairs rooms, I may have missed it if my new company hadn't pointed it out.

 

Two hours photographing, and then I left. Luckily no one was about and Sam picked me up to take me to location number two for the day which was just around the corner. An interesting start to a full day exploring several abandoned houses.