Hello and welcome to my little corner of SteemIt!
Today I am going to be talking about Urban Exploring and a little explore I did recently.
What is Urban Exploring?
Urban Exploring, often known as UrbEx, is the act of Exploring man-made structures long forgotten about, areas behind closed doors, or not often seen. It is a global phenomena with active explorers the world over all sharing what they’ve found. This includes ghost towns, abandoned cities which were built but never lived in or evacuated due to some natural (and in many cases, unnatural) disaster which is threatened the lives of the inhabitants, closed down shops, offices left vacant and in some sad cases homes where entire families appear to have gone out and just never come back. Hospitals are always very interesting places and there is an entire sub-section to UrbEx called Draining where enthusiasts explore...Drains! Sounds like smelly work but actually there are some amazing sewers out there - these can make for some of the most eye opening explores to read about or see if they’ve filmed it. It’s also one of the riskiest for obvious reasons.
Cool! So You Break Into Places And Go Crazy!
NO! Not at all! Urban Exploring specifically rallies against breaking and entering of any kind, zero vandalism/graffiti and absolutely no theft.
The thrill of Urban Exploring is finding somewhere untouched by people since it was left vacant, seeing what has been left behind, each place is like a historical monument to what once was. If it’s locked you leave it alone. The tag line of UrbEx is ‘take nothing but photos with your camera and leave nothing but your footprints’.
Isn’t It Illegal?
That depends on where in the world you are. In England and Wales, for example, trespass - which is what you are doing - is not illegal. In Scotland trespass is illegal.
Typically Urban Explorers find that hostilities with Security or landowners can be overcome by being polite, showing them what’ve done and if you must then how you got in. That might ruin the fun for the next explorer but can prove you did not break and enter.
It is also a hard sell to say you’re a vandal or stealing if you have your camera, lights, tripod and a memory card or two full of pictures!
If you are ever asked to leave a place by such a person you should apologise for the inconvenience and do so immediately with as little fuss as possible.
Remember the point is to see abandoned and vacant places - many of these are open to both nature and people, you just have to find them, and that’s part of the fun!
Abandoned Farm Explore - Surrey, England
A Bit Of History
This abandoned Farm in Surrey has been sitting empty for some years. From what I can find out, this once independently owned farm was bought by the local council around 1940 and leased out to farmers long term in an effort to support the farming trade in the area.
The farm went through many owners over the decades, suffering a few vacant periods as the demand for the farm dwindled, but the council held their position that it should remain a farm and not be redeveloped.
It’s final occupants left sometime in the late 1990s and in the early 2000s it played host to a number of squatters. This wouldn’t normally be an unusual occurrence, except one of the squatters was none other than the disgraced former MI5 Agent, David Shayler!
The council have just recently given in and approved the redevelopment of the farm to a number of properties and a price of £2.5m.
The Explore
I went for a look myself and here are the pictures!
Access to the location is incredibly easy, you basically just walk straight in. There is at least one residence in the vicinity which is still lived in, and I did not want to either attract unwanted attention or annoy the neighbors, so I kept my head down and moved swiftly past.
Empty barns litter the site. These would once have been home to machinery and feed for the animals. You can see the remnants of an upturned feeding trough, above. The farm itself covers quite a wide area with numerous buildings huddled together.
Wooden, folding garage/workshop doors. These have seen some life! The windows are original, lead framed with individual pains of glass. Such a shame it had been vandalised, those windows should have been protected!
To me that says ‘Welcome! Take a look!’
This would have been a feeding pen of sorts. Judging by the sizes of the pens I’m guessing this once housed sheep of calves.
There is a channel cut into the floor running the edges of the pen where dirt and other such things would have been washed away. This lead throughout this building to an outside drain.
The number of long forgotten barns and outbuildings across this site are many. You really get the feeling that this place was once a thriving farm and integral part of the community probably offering both jobs and farm fresh food for the local inhabitants once upon a time.
My favourite find on this site was hidden behind a large, heavy door on casters. I gave a good push and look what I found!
I dont know if this was a milking shed for cows or some other kind of feeding room. Whatever it was, aside from being dusty and now the home to many a spider, it was in good condition. I dont think many people have been in here since the place was abandoned.
Finally, on the way out I spotted a door with a hole in it...UrbEx gold! Its a shame that the vandals have been through and done things like smashing this door and windows. But, seeing as they did, it would be rude not to check it out.
Inside I found a room with tiles and porcelain surfaces with another of those channels cut into the floor which lead to an outside drain. It looks very clinical, it may have been a slaughter room of sorts.
This GEC light switch was a nice piece left behind and thankfully not looted. Under those layers of pain is a nice hard metal switch box which would be worth a few hundred pounds in good condition today.
Leaving the farm....
And thats the last shot of the day. There are some really nice buildings here and theyve stood the test of time very well. The buildings all look solid, they could do with a lick of paint and a clean up, but they are structurally sound. We will see if some developer has the time and funds to turn this place into anything. It has loads of potential. Ill keep my eye on this location, maybe in a few years Ill revisit and report back!
Final Thoughts
I hope youve enjoyed this little explore with me! May I have inspired someone to get out there and explore too! If so then good luck and enjoy!
A few tips I would recommend - always tell someone where youre going. If you get into difficulties they will need to know where to look for you.
Old structures are inherently dangerous places. The walls may be fine but how is the floor and the ceiling? Who knows what is left in there - toxic substances, noxious gasses and things like asbestos lurk in these locations, so be extremely careful and if youre in an enclosed area it may be worth taking a face mask or other breathing apparatus.
Torches are always a good idea too! Not to mention suitable foot wear and clothing.
Lastly, dont forget your camera!
Let me know what you think, any comments always welcomed!
For further reading check out
28 Days Later (https://www.28dayslater.co.uk/),
The Proper People (https://www.youtube.com/user/TheProperPeople),
Dan Bell (https://www.youtube.com/user/moviedan),
Oblivion State (http://www.oblivionstate.com/forum/).
Cheers for now!
PD1882