With the down-time going on I thought I'd use the opportunity to look through some old reports and photos; unfortunately there's not much I've got which is worth posting that I haven't already.
However, I did notice that my original report (my first on 28DL) on this location seems to have disappeared. I'm guessing this is due to the fact that the original report didn't give the name/location of the explore... I certainly recall a lot of lovely drama at the time because of this!
So I thought I'd take the opportunity to re-post to include a few extra photos. Unfortunately, in the time that's passed I've really forgotten most of the finer details and history of the place, and as far as history goes there's very little out there in the first place.
Since posting my report, sadly the already heavily vandalised and abused Quebec Farmhouse was set fire to and burned to a husk. I haven't revisited since posting the original report but I'm led to believe that if anything does remain of the place, it's just a blackened shell now.
Quebec Farmhouse was located on the edge of Dereham, Norfolk, heading out towards Gressenhall and Beetley and very close to the well known "Gingerbread House" located on the main road between Dereham and Gressenhall. For those of you not knowledgeable of the area, here's the "Gingerbread House" I mean. It looks especially beautiful at Christmas, when the owners light it up with fairy lights and ornaments.
Heavily hidden in trees, and very overgrown, Quebec Farmhouse itself consisted of the house itself and a number of outer barns and sheds that I was able to gain some access to at the time but not able to get fully inside the storage sheds which appeared to have some interesting old argicultural tools and items in.
To be the best of my knowledge, the dereliction of Quebec House was the classic case of the elderly owner passing away, and no family coming along to either lay claim to, or bother to do anything with, the property. From what I can remember of the personal items, calendars etc. lying about the place, it was left empty sometime around 2010 or so. Since that time, nature had reclaimed the house as much as possible, leading to parts of the roof collapsing and much of the house being surrounded by inpenetrable bushes and shrubs.
As is ever the case though, especially as the rear of the property backed on to a housing estate, the local twat kids had got wind of the place and largely wrecked it. It was so upsetting and distressing to see a person's life and possessions so mistreated, broken and disrespected but in the years that have followed, I've sure come to learn that this is nothing new or remarkable. People are awful, huh?
Due the overgrown nature surrounding the house, and the fact that almost all the windows were boarded over, it was mostly pitch black inside. Every floor was covered in a layer of trash and broken ornaments, furniture and glass; the darkness and sheer amount of tripping hazards made this a dangerous explore indeed.
Adding to this, the broken roof had let in a huge amount of damp, fungus and black mould. The air inside was heavy, oppressive and uncomfortable. To date it remains one of the most "unpleasant" explores I've done, with the combination of horrible air quality, lack of natural light and just general depressing atmosphere of a person's entire life ruined.
That said it was still a fascinating mooch, owing to the sheer amount of stuff to be found; the owner had clearly been something of a hoarder, and there were some lovely retro furnishings still to be found.
Photographs:
I was still getting used to my DSLR at the time, and the complete lack of light in several rooms made it hard to focus and get decent quality pictures.
In my original report I had done some Photoshoppery to improve the quality of the pictures as best I could, but those versions seem to be lost to time and I can't find the motivation to do that again so I'll just upload the original photos and hopefully they'll provide a good enough sense of the atmosphere of the place.
1. Outside the house and the barns
2. Downstairs in the house
The old piano lurking by the back door, which was the only way inside
The kitchen was pretty much the only room in the entire house with any light or "fresh" air getting into it
Reminders of the old age of the owner leading up to its dereliction were especially tough to see...
...along with the family photos and examples of happier times.
A beautiful old farmhouse stove and tiled hearth. Heartbreaking to think it is likely a charred lump of metal now.
3. Upstairs - bedrooms and bathroom
This bedroom was the room most infested with black mould and fungus. I'm fairly sure I've taken about 10 years off my life expectancy just from spending a couple of minutes in here.
The old man and his wife's (who apparently died some years before him) clothes still hung, bizarrely respectfully, on the backs of doors and inside wardrobes. All of them, of course, crawling with mould.
Hope you all enjoyed - for those who'd seen before, hope this was an interesting re-read. For those new, hope it was an interesting discovery; though tragically purely one for the history books as Quebec Farmhouse itself is long gone.
Thanks, and here's hoping we can start making some new memories soon!
However, I did notice that my original report (my first on 28DL) on this location seems to have disappeared. I'm guessing this is due to the fact that the original report didn't give the name/location of the explore... I certainly recall a lot of lovely drama at the time because of this!
So I thought I'd take the opportunity to re-post to include a few extra photos. Unfortunately, in the time that's passed I've really forgotten most of the finer details and history of the place, and as far as history goes there's very little out there in the first place.
Since posting my report, sadly the already heavily vandalised and abused Quebec Farmhouse was set fire to and burned to a husk. I haven't revisited since posting the original report but I'm led to believe that if anything does remain of the place, it's just a blackened shell now.
Quebec Farmhouse was located on the edge of Dereham, Norfolk, heading out towards Gressenhall and Beetley and very close to the well known "Gingerbread House" located on the main road between Dereham and Gressenhall. For those of you not knowledgeable of the area, here's the "Gingerbread House" I mean. It looks especially beautiful at Christmas, when the owners light it up with fairy lights and ornaments.
Heavily hidden in trees, and very overgrown, Quebec Farmhouse itself consisted of the house itself and a number of outer barns and sheds that I was able to gain some access to at the time but not able to get fully inside the storage sheds which appeared to have some interesting old argicultural tools and items in.
To be the best of my knowledge, the dereliction of Quebec House was the classic case of the elderly owner passing away, and no family coming along to either lay claim to, or bother to do anything with, the property. From what I can remember of the personal items, calendars etc. lying about the place, it was left empty sometime around 2010 or so. Since that time, nature had reclaimed the house as much as possible, leading to parts of the roof collapsing and much of the house being surrounded by inpenetrable bushes and shrubs.
As is ever the case though, especially as the rear of the property backed on to a housing estate, the local twat kids had got wind of the place and largely wrecked it. It was so upsetting and distressing to see a person's life and possessions so mistreated, broken and disrespected but in the years that have followed, I've sure come to learn that this is nothing new or remarkable. People are awful, huh?
Due the overgrown nature surrounding the house, and the fact that almost all the windows were boarded over, it was mostly pitch black inside. Every floor was covered in a layer of trash and broken ornaments, furniture and glass; the darkness and sheer amount of tripping hazards made this a dangerous explore indeed.
Adding to this, the broken roof had let in a huge amount of damp, fungus and black mould. The air inside was heavy, oppressive and uncomfortable. To date it remains one of the most "unpleasant" explores I've done, with the combination of horrible air quality, lack of natural light and just general depressing atmosphere of a person's entire life ruined.
That said it was still a fascinating mooch, owing to the sheer amount of stuff to be found; the owner had clearly been something of a hoarder, and there were some lovely retro furnishings still to be found.
Photographs:
I was still getting used to my DSLR at the time, and the complete lack of light in several rooms made it hard to focus and get decent quality pictures.
In my original report I had done some Photoshoppery to improve the quality of the pictures as best I could, but those versions seem to be lost to time and I can't find the motivation to do that again so I'll just upload the original photos and hopefully they'll provide a good enough sense of the atmosphere of the place.
1. Outside the house and the barns
2. Downstairs in the house
The old piano lurking by the back door, which was the only way inside
The kitchen was pretty much the only room in the entire house with any light or "fresh" air getting into it
Reminders of the old age of the owner leading up to its dereliction were especially tough to see...
...along with the family photos and examples of happier times.
A beautiful old farmhouse stove and tiled hearth. Heartbreaking to think it is likely a charred lump of metal now.
3. Upstairs - bedrooms and bathroom
This bedroom was the room most infested with black mould and fungus. I'm fairly sure I've taken about 10 years off my life expectancy just from spending a couple of minutes in here.
The old man and his wife's (who apparently died some years before him) clothes still hung, bizarrely respectfully, on the backs of doors and inside wardrobes. All of them, of course, crawling with mould.
Hope you all enjoyed - for those who'd seen before, hope this was an interesting re-read. For those new, hope it was an interesting discovery; though tragically purely one for the history books as Quebec Farmhouse itself is long gone.
Thanks, and here's hoping we can start making some new memories soon!
I can understand why somewhere so down at heel is not to everyone's taste but myself personally, the house explores are my favourite, it's fascinating to glimpse into someone else's life.
