Abandoned Cottage

Today I'm checking out this tiny abandoned cottage in the countryside, and unfortunately I'm doing it at night time, which is less than ideal for stealth reasons, but we play the hand we've been dealt, and I happened to be here at this time of day. 

Abandoned houses have become an increasingly controversial topic in the urbex world, largely because those who care more about social media attention have a tendency to over-graze the pasture, and thereby have issues getting that precious dopamine. Consequently many "abandoned" houses that become popular in urbex have been empty for maybe six months, with the fact that the power is still on somehow being used for clickbait, and the family of the recently deceased former occupant watching in horror as every subsequent post about the house has fewer and fewer items and more stickers advertising someones social media. And that brings us to the point that a house with loads of things left behind will always be more popular with the urbex herd than a glorious mansion with photogenic architecture and fantastic history, but nothing inside that will fit inside, say, a backpack. Coincidence?

 

Personally I prefer the places that are truly abandoned. This house has been empty and unloved for nearly two decades. It's just been left to rot, and nobody is coming to save it. The fact that there's anything left to see is a mystery, and it's what makes places like this so compelling, more so than the sort that entertain the herd. I've done urbex for nearly thirteen years now, and I've done it under a few very simple rules: Don't force entry, leave everything as I find it, try not to negatively impact anyone, and don't disclose the location to those who would break any of these rules. (There is a fifth rule- when exploring anywhere that involves a boat, always wear a pirate hat, but that's not really relevant here.) 

These rules generally keep me going, and they're the reason some "urbexers" are currently facing legal action for plastering lame social media stickers all over a power station, and I am not.

There's a car parked on what used to be the driveway, but it's been smashed and encased in nature.

Slipping inside is relatively easy. The door is hanging off its hinges, in stark contrast to the windows, which are boarded up, echoing a time when someone did actually care about this place. The lower floor, consequently, has very little furniture.

But a quick look at the fireplace will reveal that I'm not actually on the floor of this house. It's just a pile of very tightly-packed rubble and litter. There could be all sorts of cool things buried under this mess, if anyone cares to dig.

There's a little retro TV here.

The kitchen/dining area is of particular interest, with its yellow and blue colour scheme and the ceiling light. And while most of the downstairs furniture seems to have been cleared out, there are a few things to see in here.

An ironing board.

There's a Beethoven record here. Whoever lived here must have liked their classical music.

The cupboards still have loads of canned goods, including cat food. The Arthur can is displaying the 1995 logo style, but the brand has totally vanished today. Arthur the cat actually has quite the saga, being the focal point of a 1960s controversy when rumours swept around that the reason he had to dip its paw and lick the food off was because the TV producers had removed his teeth.

The oven has seen better days, but I do love that cobwebbed pantry area.

There's also a photo in here. Could this be the former occupant of the house in her younger years? 

 

It's the human element that really makes abandoned houses sad. It's important to remember that this was someones home once. This house has seen many a Christmas and birthday. It was once the place that people looked forward to coming back to after a long day. They've likely passed away, and for some reason everything was left. No family came to claim any of this. It could be argued that they clearly moved some of the stuff out, but I'm more inclined to believe that the house has been ransacked. There's no reason why so much would go missing, but a photo of someone would remain, unless the photo wasn't valuable to whoever came to take stuff. 

But in the absence of anyone to take care of matters, an abandoned house essentially becomes a memorial to someones former life. As such it's rather heartbreaking to see them trashed and ruined. Its akin to vandalising a gravestone.

In the corner of one room is a rather dusty bookshelf.

Everything here is pretty old. "The Grove of Eagles" is one of the newer-looking books, and it was published in 1963.

"Below the Salt" was published in 1957, and "Queens Play" was published in 1964. A lot of these books seem to be historic fiction, taking place hundreds of years ago, about fictional characters during real-life events.

This book, "A new geography of Wales," isn't that new anymore! It was published in 1969. It could be quite interesting to flick through, and see what county borders have changed over the years.

There's a cat carrier next to the fireplace.

Moving on upstairs proved to be challenging. While it seems that there are plenty of steps, what I neglected to display was that the bottom half of the staircase is empty! This is all there is, and it starts just above waist-level. And even then that bottom step is looking quite precarious.

Fortunately I've never needed stairs to get upstairs, but given that the house is in such a serious state of decay, surely only an idiot would go up here.

Well... whoopsie! Guess I am an idiot. Let's see what we have.

The upstairs is similarly ransacked, but there's a little more to see. It's harder to get furniture down the stairs than it is to get it out through the front door, especially when the stairs are missing. As a result the upper floors have a lot more to offer.

Onto the best part of any abandoned building, the bathroom.

It's still in better condition than the toilets in some pubs and clubs.

There are still things in the cabinet, which is pretty bonkers. There's some phyllosan there, which was commonly advertised as "keeping people fit over forty." An advert from 1937 claims:

"Modern conditions compel you to overspend yourselves. You are subjected to a degree of stress, anxiety and mental strain undreamed of by former generations. It's not your fault, but you must repay the debt. If you are feeling run down, overworked, devitalized, and starting to feel your age, start taking phyllosan tablets today!"

 

But what's interesting is how an advert from 1937 admits that people are overworked compared to days gone by, and is happily saying "Look, modern life is shit, so here's something to help." It's quite in contrast to scores of grumpy old sods on Facebook shrieking gammonically about how the younger generation is full of wusses for wanting to be paid adequately for working longer hours and whatnot. Here's an advert from eighty years ago, making the exact same points that are being made today.

It's almost as if every generation has been a bit shit.

 

Moving on... We have my favourite part of the house, the main bedroom.

It still has a bed in it, and pretty much every piece of furniture. It's easy to imagine how this place would have looked decades ago, back when the house was still being lived in.

As much as I would have loved to have a proper mooch around this room, the floor was sagging under my footsteps and I felt that if I ventured too far into the middle of the room, I would soon find myself in the one below.

There's a dressing table in the corner, where decades ago someone once sat to do her makeup before heading out.

And while the clothes seem to have all been taken, there are a few old possessions on the side.

There's an old jigsaw puzzle which appears to have once made a map of the UK. I'm amazed it's all still mostly in its tin, but what's especially noteworthy is that the image is printed onto wooden puzzle pieces, whereas today such puzzles are printed onto card.

There's an old medicine bottle on the side, and there's still tablets inside!

But that fluff... is that mold in there? Have the tablets exceeded their use-by date and actually grown fluff? I did a quick google search and it is possible for tablets to develop a fungal infection. Although, it is possible that someone has just shoved cotton wool into the bottle... but why would they?

Meanwhile on the bed we have a map of the Soviet Union, and English school work from 1959 to 1961. This is incredible! And it's just been left here. That's madness.

I personally prefer places with a history that I can research and a story that I can tell, and that's the main reason I stopped exploring as many abandoned houses. There's just nothing much to go on, narratively speaking. But it's the mystery that makes them appealing. Years ago someone passed away and left all of their belongings behind. Some of the belongings were taken away, the house trashed, and then it was all just forgotten and left to rot. I have no doubt that the condition of the stairs are the reason why the upper floors have more to show than the bottom ones, and that makes it even more intriguing, to think that so much can only be observed by a few. 

It is sad though, and that is why abandoned houses deserve the highest level of respect. They sadly don't always get that, but they do from me. 

That's all I've got today. My next couple of blogs will be similar small ones, but if you like the larger adventures then my non-local blog has loads of those. 

In the meantime, follow me on Instagram, follow me on Reddit, and also follow me on Twitter for some reason, and the hub of human misery that is Facebook. 

Thank you for reading!