History
Midhurst is a small village in Taranaki, New Zealand, approximately 4km north of the town of Stratford. According to the 2013 census, the village has a population of 234. In terms of property, Midhurst has 99 registered occupied dwellings and 6 unoccupied ones. These statistics reveal there has been growth and development in the village since 2001 as the number of occupied buildings has risen by nine while the number of abandoned has fallen by three. As for local amenities, Midhurst has a reputable tavern, a school that was founded in 1880, and several local businesses.
One of the small businesses in Midhurst is the General Store which was built sometime in the 1960s. It was built in front of a dairy factory, next to a Shell service station, just on the outskirts of the village. Today, the old store is in a dilapidated condition and the factory behind, which was redeveloped into a fertilizer factory in the 1970s, has been completely abandoned. There is a garage next door to it though that still operates. As for the General Store, it never actually appears to be open, but if one happens to peer through the window it seems to sell absolutely everything, from computer parts to used kitchen wares, and even old cars that are parked in the forecourt. Nonetheless, while the cars directly in front of the building look as if they are in working condition, a significant number of vehicles have been dumped to the left-hand side of the building where they have been left to slowly decay. There are many different models and types of vehicle in the graveyard, and most seemed to have been produced between the 1970s and mid-2000s.
Our Version of Events
Once again we find ourselves back in New Zealand,touring the country in search of abandonedness and beer (we find both go particularly well together). This time, to begin our 2017 trip through Middle Earth, we thought we’d have a bit of a mooch around the north island and visit a few sites we never managed to cover last time we were here. The first of these, after a rough night kipping inside an abandoned house that resulted in getting caught by a very angry neighbour early the next morning (how she got past the bolted door is beyond us), was the Midhurst car graveyard.
By all accounts, this site looks kind of semi-live because new cars have been added to it since the last time we were here (two years ago); however, once again there were no people around to indicate that it is live, and there are no signs to suggest any of the cars are for sale either. In addition, the old General Store is looking even worse for wear these days, with its original white paint slowly flaking off and weeds growing in the forecourt. We did see an old sign at the front of the premises, though, revealing that the store also offers/offered various other services, such as property maintenance, furniture removal assistance and chimney sweeping. So, perhaps the owners were out and about doing an odd job somewhere?
Anyway, with no one around we were free to have a wander among the collection of rusting vehicles. And, while we were doing this with our breakfast (squashed croissants) in hand it didn’t take us long to figure out that most of the doors opened, enabling us to have a peek inside many of them where nature is beginning its very slow takeover. On the whole, though, we can confirm that there’s nothing extraordinary in the field, but it was a decent ‘warm-up’ explore to wake us up a bit before we headed off in search of greater things.
Explored with Nillskill and Bane.
Midhurst is a small village in Taranaki, New Zealand, approximately 4km north of the town of Stratford. According to the 2013 census, the village has a population of 234. In terms of property, Midhurst has 99 registered occupied dwellings and 6 unoccupied ones. These statistics reveal there has been growth and development in the village since 2001 as the number of occupied buildings has risen by nine while the number of abandoned has fallen by three. As for local amenities, Midhurst has a reputable tavern, a school that was founded in 1880, and several local businesses.
One of the small businesses in Midhurst is the General Store which was built sometime in the 1960s. It was built in front of a dairy factory, next to a Shell service station, just on the outskirts of the village. Today, the old store is in a dilapidated condition and the factory behind, which was redeveloped into a fertilizer factory in the 1970s, has been completely abandoned. There is a garage next door to it though that still operates. As for the General Store, it never actually appears to be open, but if one happens to peer through the window it seems to sell absolutely everything, from computer parts to used kitchen wares, and even old cars that are parked in the forecourt. Nonetheless, while the cars directly in front of the building look as if they are in working condition, a significant number of vehicles have been dumped to the left-hand side of the building where they have been left to slowly decay. There are many different models and types of vehicle in the graveyard, and most seemed to have been produced between the 1970s and mid-2000s.
Our Version of Events
Once again we find ourselves back in New Zealand,touring the country in search of abandonedness and beer (we find both go particularly well together). This time, to begin our 2017 trip through Middle Earth, we thought we’d have a bit of a mooch around the north island and visit a few sites we never managed to cover last time we were here. The first of these, after a rough night kipping inside an abandoned house that resulted in getting caught by a very angry neighbour early the next morning (how she got past the bolted door is beyond us), was the Midhurst car graveyard.
By all accounts, this site looks kind of semi-live because new cars have been added to it since the last time we were here (two years ago); however, once again there were no people around to indicate that it is live, and there are no signs to suggest any of the cars are for sale either. In addition, the old General Store is looking even worse for wear these days, with its original white paint slowly flaking off and weeds growing in the forecourt. We did see an old sign at the front of the premises, though, revealing that the store also offers/offered various other services, such as property maintenance, furniture removal assistance and chimney sweeping. So, perhaps the owners were out and about doing an odd job somewhere?
Anyway, with no one around we were free to have a wander among the collection of rusting vehicles. And, while we were doing this with our breakfast (squashed croissants) in hand it didn’t take us long to figure out that most of the doors opened, enabling us to have a peek inside many of them where nature is beginning its very slow takeover. On the whole, though, we can confirm that there’s nothing extraordinary in the field, but it was a decent ‘warm-up’ explore to wake us up a bit before we headed off in search of greater things.
Explored with Nillskill and Bane.
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