I should have known I'd end up wandering further afield. Sure, I knew I'd end up exploring the wider Shropshire area, but trips to Liverpool? Trips to Camelot? I had no idea this was going to happen! And last weekend I did it again, venturing to Liverpool to get drunk and merry with a couple of friends from Runcorn, and ending up skipping off north to find something of curiosity.
This place is near Camelot, which this blog covered back in April, and was once a farm before it was converted into the home for the the UK's consul to Latvia from 2005 to 2007. Once it was abandoned, it became a gorgeous place to explore, retaining all the things you'd expect rich politicians to have, such as pool tables and swimming pools.
Perhaps if it wasn't for Camelot being in the area, only local explorers would have bothered, but since Camelot was a magnet for explorers everywhere this place was consequentially exposed to the same herd that has resulted in Camelot having zero windows and no wall bare of graffiti. And as such, right when the local council were planning on transforming it into a rehabilitation clinic, someone set fire to it earlier this year.
So I'm saddened that I didn't get to see this place in its glory days, except in the photos of others, but ruins are often photogenic too!
And since I was in the area visiting my buddy in Liverpool, and checking out Camelot again anyway, I skipped merrily off to find this place too.
Oh, a sign that warns me that I'm not allowed in. I guess I'll be heading home...
Naaaaah!!!
First, let's check out the exterior rubble, which was full of intrigue.
I'm not sure what used to be in this circular expanse, but it was littered with books and chairs.
The bra was perhaps the weirdest discovery.
But by far weirder, only because of the contrast, was the presence of discarded toys.
There were stables, where I found some wellies for small children, just to add to the mystery.
Onto the main building...
The building itself looks deliciously unsafe. Fortunately the chances of a ceiling collapsing on me are quite slim when I'm walking in the remains of it.
I was pleasantly surprised by the graffiti in this place. Sure, the same boring graffiti tags were there, but some of it was actually pretty cool.
...Still in better condition than some toilets in Shrewsbury's bars and pubs.
Here are the remains of the pool table.
And here's an old metal railing.
Here are the remains of a swimming pool.
As a nice touch, I found a pipe spewing water upwards, that someone had positioned a couple of drainpipes to, letting the water flow down onto a draining board. Why? I have no idea! Although the fact that this place still has water is a curiosity.
Given the fact that I know what this place used to look like, and what I could have explored had idiots not destroyed it, I found it hard to enjoy this little explore as much as I otherwise could have, although it did have its photogenic qualities. Perhaps the most touching aspect was the fact that locals did in fact care about the place enough to dedicate an entire wall to insulting the arsonists.
And that is why, whenever people ask me where something I explore is, or how to get into it, I kindly ignore the question. Even when I'm running around Camelot and someone is standing on the other side of the fence asking me.
Thanks for reading this small non-Shropshire blog post anyway. As always if you have any additional information or stories concerning this place or any of the other places I write about, get in touch! I'm on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
I'll be back in Shropshire for the next blog post! Stay awesome!
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