This place wins the 'most surreal experience with secca' award – (with the time secca offered to look after the car while we were exploring, in second place
)
Egham was flooded with people when we went – probably cos it was the first non-rainy day for a while. Most of them were going to the RAF memorial round the corner to inspect the flood damage from a height (see final pic). Our site fortunately was not hit by the torrential rain.
We went into the woods to prepare entrance – saw a lot of the old hippie tents from their ‘eco village’ – they seem to have evacuated now though. Then we saw secca. And he saw us. Oops. Just a casual stroll in the woods we were having, of course.
So we used a different access point and from there, twas all a pleasant stroll.
Two site workers who were constantly banging at bricks saw us at one point. “Pictures?†they said. “Yupâ€, we said. And we bid each other good day.
We got into the union building, tech labs, rectory and one of the halls. The chapel and manor house were sealed unfortunately.
While inspecting the manor, secca saw us from his car. He told us we weren’t allowed to be there, whereupon we commented on the site of a coconut on top of his car bonnet. “Oh that! A friend gave it to me. I’ve got loads. Take one.†So Gabe took one.
“You can have one tooâ€, he said to me.
“Erm, I’m alright mateâ€, I said.
“Go on, I insistâ€, he said opening up his boot to reveal a whole crate of coconuts.
“Go on then,†I said.
So we both took our coconuts and we were on our way.
Just how every good explore should end
Cheers Morgan for the heads up on this!
History from wiki:
Today the buildings are used as halls of residence for the main campus at Uxbridge, one hour away by bus and also nearby Royal Holloway. The halls were named after Shoreditch staff: Scrivens, Marshall, Bradley, Reed and Rowan. President Hall, where the College president resided, and College Hall were named in the Royal Indian period. The fine Victorian buildings were built by Sir Matthew Digby Wyatt, who had been Isambard Kingdom Brunel's architect for Paddington Station in London, and also Addenbrooke's Hospital, Cambridge, (now the Judge Institute). Corridors in President and College Halls were named after prominent British and Anglo-Indian figures, such as George Canning, Warren Hastings, Richard Wellesley and Charles Cornwallis.
In 2007, Brunel announced they were putting up for sale possibly for housing. Royal Holloway also expressed interest. In June 2007 it was acquired by Oracle, a property developer, for £46m. Englefield Green Village Residents Association fears development not in keeping with the village.
The statue of Eros in Piccadilly Circus, London was kept in the college during World War II
)Egham was flooded with people when we went – probably cos it was the first non-rainy day for a while. Most of them were going to the RAF memorial round the corner to inspect the flood damage from a height (see final pic). Our site fortunately was not hit by the torrential rain.
We went into the woods to prepare entrance – saw a lot of the old hippie tents from their ‘eco village’ – they seem to have evacuated now though. Then we saw secca. And he saw us. Oops. Just a casual stroll in the woods we were having, of course.
So we used a different access point and from there, twas all a pleasant stroll.
Two site workers who were constantly banging at bricks saw us at one point. “Pictures?†they said. “Yupâ€, we said. And we bid each other good day.
We got into the union building, tech labs, rectory and one of the halls. The chapel and manor house were sealed unfortunately.
While inspecting the manor, secca saw us from his car. He told us we weren’t allowed to be there, whereupon we commented on the site of a coconut on top of his car bonnet. “Oh that! A friend gave it to me. I’ve got loads. Take one.†So Gabe took one.
“You can have one tooâ€, he said to me.
“Erm, I’m alright mateâ€, I said.
“Go on, I insistâ€, he said opening up his boot to reveal a whole crate of coconuts.
“Go on then,†I said.
So we both took our coconuts and we were on our way.
Just how every good explore should end
Cheers Morgan for the heads up on this!
History from wiki:
Today the buildings are used as halls of residence for the main campus at Uxbridge, one hour away by bus and also nearby Royal Holloway. The halls were named after Shoreditch staff: Scrivens, Marshall, Bradley, Reed and Rowan. President Hall, where the College president resided, and College Hall were named in the Royal Indian period. The fine Victorian buildings were built by Sir Matthew Digby Wyatt, who had been Isambard Kingdom Brunel's architect for Paddington Station in London, and also Addenbrooke's Hospital, Cambridge, (now the Judge Institute). Corridors in President and College Halls were named after prominent British and Anglo-Indian figures, such as George Canning, Warren Hastings, Richard Wellesley and Charles Cornwallis.
In 2007, Brunel announced they were putting up for sale possibly for housing. Royal Holloway also expressed interest. In June 2007 it was acquired by Oracle, a property developer, for £46m. Englefield Green Village Residents Association fears development not in keeping with the village.
The statue of Eros in Piccadilly Circus, London was kept in the college during World War II
