Well, where do I start. I had intended to do an early morning run this weekend but as it happens I didn't wake up until 8:30am and didn't get underway until 11:30am so I rocked up 3 hours later to 'somewhere in Wiltshire' at 2:30pm. What ensued was a real game of cat and mouse. We found the farmer ploughing the field on his tractor, he seemed to be ploughing in ever decreasing circles watching the byway the whole time, we couldn't even make it through the small gap in the hedge to get into the field and behind another hedge in time. We spotted what we believed was the barn so walked back to the car to find another way in.
Whilst in the car a lady cycled past and muttered something. She then went into the field and started speaking to the farmer looking in our direction so we scarpered. As we did so (not quick enough) a young farmer on a quad bike raced down the byway giving us the eye. Scarpering part II continued.
We parked about a mile away and face questions from an elderly chap walking his dog. We then made the long walk down in the heat. We walked all the way through a corn field carefully sticking to the edges and not trampling any crops, the whole time we could hear the tractor patrolling as well as the quad bike and the lady on her bicycle, it was laughable to be honest, talk about really not wanted!!
The corn field turned out to be a big fat failure as the very distant 'stack' in the distance turned out to be nothing more than a massive pile of pallets and scrap which remotely resembled the barn!! Scarper part III.
A local teenager came hooning down the single track road so I pulled in RIGHT by the farmers entrance and found my back wheel in the air as my car hit a massive gulley hidden by long grass. This was an epic fail as I had to be dragged out by a Land Rover but thankfully the car was OK. Scarper part IV.
I was genuinely NOT giving up on this one so I parked up again about a mile away from where I figured it could be, lumbered across more fields and by joe I found it!!
I hot footed it around the place expecting to either be shot at any moment of eaten by a Wolf, so I took as many photographs as possible on my phone, sorry they are not good quality but I left the DSLR at home so I would not be weighed down! We kept hearing the quad bike going up and down the roads, gun shots (although I think a clay shoot was on) and voices close to us so we only stayed for about 30 minutes before... scarper part V.
Overgrown, still intact, the upstairs in the main 2 storey building is quite barren now and in a reasonable to fair condition. Climbing the steps into the turret was a bit nerve wracking as dust from the ceiling was falling onto my head with every step. Something very interesting I discovered was a broken pillar which reveals the core is made of... Polystyrene!!
The bag of dog treats is a either a joke left by another urbexer or they are genuinely for a dog probably named Killer, Brutus or Tyson. There was a dismantled dog crate in there, a chewed up tennis ball and a dead Crow!
An absolutely charming and fascinating place which you can gaze at in awe for hours on end and never get bored of exploring. I do highly recommend it but you must be very 'stealth mode', it was a 3 hour drive for us and we had to try and try several routes before finally striking gold, excluding the driving we were there for over 4 hours avoiding the watchful eyes.
Photographs;
Looking up into one of the turrets on the first floor of the main building
When facing the 'property' this is round the back of the building on the far right
Dog crate and the snapped pillar revealing it was polystyrene in the middle, the arches were also flaking which revealed more polysytrene
The first floor now in a fairly bad state of disrepair
Collapsed section of first floor, severed pillars and collapsed arches
Genuinely could not get up into this turret, it's not what I would class as safe at all
Lovely tiling for the mid section main entrance
Ha ha
Whilst in the car a lady cycled past and muttered something. She then went into the field and started speaking to the farmer looking in our direction so we scarpered. As we did so (not quick enough) a young farmer on a quad bike raced down the byway giving us the eye. Scarpering part II continued.
We parked about a mile away and face questions from an elderly chap walking his dog. We then made the long walk down in the heat. We walked all the way through a corn field carefully sticking to the edges and not trampling any crops, the whole time we could hear the tractor patrolling as well as the quad bike and the lady on her bicycle, it was laughable to be honest, talk about really not wanted!!
The corn field turned out to be a big fat failure as the very distant 'stack' in the distance turned out to be nothing more than a massive pile of pallets and scrap which remotely resembled the barn!! Scarper part III.
A local teenager came hooning down the single track road so I pulled in RIGHT by the farmers entrance and found my back wheel in the air as my car hit a massive gulley hidden by long grass. This was an epic fail as I had to be dragged out by a Land Rover but thankfully the car was OK. Scarper part IV.
I was genuinely NOT giving up on this one so I parked up again about a mile away from where I figured it could be, lumbered across more fields and by joe I found it!!
I hot footed it around the place expecting to either be shot at any moment of eaten by a Wolf, so I took as many photographs as possible on my phone, sorry they are not good quality but I left the DSLR at home so I would not be weighed down! We kept hearing the quad bike going up and down the roads, gun shots (although I think a clay shoot was on) and voices close to us so we only stayed for about 30 minutes before... scarper part V.
Overgrown, still intact, the upstairs in the main 2 storey building is quite barren now and in a reasonable to fair condition. Climbing the steps into the turret was a bit nerve wracking as dust from the ceiling was falling onto my head with every step. Something very interesting I discovered was a broken pillar which reveals the core is made of... Polystyrene!!
The bag of dog treats is a either a joke left by another urbexer or they are genuinely for a dog probably named Killer, Brutus or Tyson. There was a dismantled dog crate in there, a chewed up tennis ball and a dead Crow!
An absolutely charming and fascinating place which you can gaze at in awe for hours on end and never get bored of exploring. I do highly recommend it but you must be very 'stealth mode', it was a 3 hour drive for us and we had to try and try several routes before finally striking gold, excluding the driving we were there for over 4 hours avoiding the watchful eyes.
Photographs;
Looking up into one of the turrets on the first floor of the main building
When facing the 'property' this is round the back of the building on the far right
Dog crate and the snapped pillar revealing it was polystyrene in the middle, the arches were also flaking which revealed more polysytrene
The first floor now in a fairly bad state of disrepair
Collapsed section of first floor, severed pillars and collapsed arches
Genuinely could not get up into this turret, it's not what I would class as safe at all
Lovely tiling for the mid section main entrance
Ha ha