An explore celebrated for its lack of vandalism and graffiti, this old maintenance depot in the sleepy village of Milton Green was the first of 2 successful explores myself and @CheesyKennita would tick off the list this day.
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HISTORY
Closed around 2011, the Milton Green depot was both a storage and maintenance facility for local council vehicles that features extensive storage, a refueling station and a large garage/workshop area for said vehicles. Part of the depot is currently in use by the NHS as an ambulance station, where a small building at the front being used as the office and several sheds at the side are both cordoned off from the abandoned parts of the site.
A proposal was declined around 2013 to develop an estate, known as Richborough Estates, that would incorporate the aforementioned ambulance station, a village hall and several houses. The rejection was seemingly brought on by several factors including, but not limited to, the scale of the site extending beyond the grounds of the depot and therefore interfering with the local countryside and that the vision for the proposed site was not in sync with the local council's vision for Milton Green as a village. Red tape, eh?
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THE EXPLORE
Third week on the bounce for myself and @CheesyKennita, the previous week had seen us park up at this very location waiting hopelessly for a highway maintenance driver to finish his lunch so we could visit the depot undetected. Luckily we had already ticked off the other explore just up the road (that can't be posted here for reasons) and decided to give this a go the following week. Well, that following week was upon us and it seemed as though the coast was clear - we just needed to make sure the NHS ambulance station next door didn't have eyes on us and it was time to go!
We started with the hangar to the left of the main gate and found nothing of interest to photograph, it wouldn't have mattered anyway as this was the building I decided to use as my "camera setting up" spot, yes I do that at the beginning of every explore, don't judge me okay? We swiftly moved on to its next door neighbour and found the interesting board of contacts pictured above. There was also a cobweb-ridden toilet on the right of this that although I did photograph, I'll skip it as I'd rather share the more photogenic shots I took later on instead and I don't want to cram this report with too many photos!
Everybody who has been here before will know that the maintenance building at the back and middle is the main attraction of this explore. A huge open space with offices, workshops, staff areas and lots of tasty overgrowth lay ahead. We headed in via the break room to snap some shots of the kitchen-y artifacts inside...
We had our weekly game of "fridge test", it was Cheesy's turn to see what horrors lay within and he was relieved to find it empty save for a few crumbs and a trace amount of mold, we didn't have even half as much luck the week prior with the other explore in the village! I'm still having nightmares thinking about it 🤢
Honestly, it was the usual fare for an abandoned kitchen, the first aid box had been raided (it's always the first thing to go!) and the cups of tea and food products were now naught but colonies of new moldy lifeforms slowly growing in to mossy hills in the damp. We sauntered in to the main floor, a huge vehicle bay where the bulk of maintenance would almost certainly have happened back in the day.
We found the usual trinkets in the form of pre-regulation packaging L&B Silver and JPS Blue, someone had basic tastes in cancer sticks it seems. Yes I'm a preachy ex-smoker, how did you know?
A copy of the Daily Star from the day Gary Speed was found dead from suicide. The closing date of this depot seems to be unclear and most reports in the past have simply given estimates, so maybe the date on this paper is evidence of the depot's final day?
It seems like everywhere me and Cheesy go we always come across an old record player! This definitely isn't an old classic, but as a record collector I can't help but spend minutes going over and ogling it whilst Cheesy continues the explore without me. We moved on to the offices with the long and empty workshop attached, the right-most panel in the picture below is still on and working, suggesting that the NHS building next door may be drawing power from this building? Honestly I don't have a scooby doo how that shit works so I'll leave it up to yous lot.
"Hopes may rise on the Grasmere, but honey pie you're not safe here..."
The biggest shocker of the whole explore right there, the soap in the dispensers was still very much present and shot out like something gloopy (that I won't mention here) when Cheesy tested it! As for the elephant in the bathroom, I've legit never heard that warning before, is that some old pseudo science or is it still medical fact? Answers in the comments below!
We were beginning to venture in to overgrowth central, which previous explorers will know as the picturesque reception area. But first we wanted to quickly venture back in to the main vehicle bay to check out the office overlooking it all.
Found a lot of keys and a "spooky" message that was left by past explorers on the binding of a folder. A little amused that someone had nicked the keyboard from this ancient computer, what worth is that to anyone I wonder? Only other possibility I guess is that it belonged to a worker and they took it home upon closing.
We made it to the reception area and I took the obligatory shot of the entrance corridor as Cheesy noted the damaged floor tiles after we both almost went arse over tit on them.
An L-shaped corridor led to another break room and some offices that were mostly plain, save for scattered documents and some retro printers. We finished the loop back in to whence we entered and decided to take on the central-most hangar.
This one seemed to be mostly used for storage judging by the huge satellite dish-looking thing in the black and white picture above and the room full of bus seats and various other little things. There was another vehicle bay inside though with a cool Tacalemit DVSA ATF Brake Tester (yes I looked that up) inside. Of course we couldn't resist pressing the buttons on it and examining it like a pair of curious apes.
These swimming traffic cones made for a dramatic shot and I surmised that they were probably nicked by playful explorers from the main building and dossed here for a laugh. Why not eh, gotta have some fun sometimes...
...anyway, that's all for our 1st explore of this day. I'll be writing up my report soon for the 2nd of those adventures. We both rated this one high though and it was another one of those big places with no pressure kind of explores that we both enjoy, plenty of time to take it all in as I've previously mentioned. Highly recommend if you happen to be in the area!
For now though, merry late Christmas from the Cheese himself:
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