Casa de Campo, Farmhouse, Orgiva to Lanjaron Road, Las Alpujarras, Spain.

Here is a common view in the reddening, sun-sore fields of the Sierra Nevada farmland – a once beautiful farm building now decaying into the ground, melting like the Dali inspired clocks as society changes, again.

I climbed to the top of the roof structure and watched the sun set whilst my new exploring friend, Mango, toured the different levels beneath us. The red bricks dissolved into the red sun as I left here feeling very content; despite it being another sad story of capitalism’s impact on rural Spain as traditional farming becomes lost in the rubble…

Ruins of the Sierra Nevada

 

The mountains of the Sierra Nevada are much more populated than many in Europe due to their moderate climate and thus decent farm and grazing land.  The current inhabitants are however very different to the previous land dwellers, who would have largely been traditional Spanish farming families.  These days the winding tracks, pine forests and snowy peaking views attract expat families from England, Germany, Holland and alike.  This means that although many people own land with previous foundations already there, they are unlikely to use this in favour of newer built structures.  Some of these ruins are are still used by the occasional shepherd when travelling across the mountain tops however most lie lost in the rubble..

The San Joaquin Mill, Maro, just outside Nerja, southern Spain.

A huge amount of sugar cane was grown in the Nerja area from the 16th century onwards (nowadays, the surrounding fields grow mango, papaya and avocado along with other crops). The first sugar factory was opened in Nerja in 1588, amazingly enough, and there were several others.

The San Joaquin mill was built in 1884. It was originally owned by the Marquis de Tous, closed in 1911 and re-opened in the 1930s. I haven’t been able to find out when it finally closed but it is now roofless and pretty derelict, although its chimney   (with an interesting criss-cro ss brickwork pattern) still stands, along with the waterways running between the buildings and an impressive sense of worth – the location and the views are more than remarkable.  An incredible place, now lost in the rubble.

Projet Darwin

 

Projet Darwin is a project space to the South of the river Garonne in Bordeaux famous for its legal graffitti walls: colourful images creep across the sprawling derelict buildings – making the space one of the first lawful abandoned areas that I have visited… An incredible place to visit!! The area includes a big eco garden with eco friendly mobile homes for the volunteers to live in, an impressive indoor skating warehouse, as well as one for BMXers and roller bladers… There is also a great cafe/restaurant and there are frequently events for professional extreme sports people as well as markets selling hand-made products..  A great place to stumble upon and one of the best uses of a derelict area that I’ve seen, not quite lost in the rubble!

Studio One

I noticed the squat symbol grafittied above the gate to ‘Studio One Nightclub’ when passing over a bridge of the Garonne.  After asking a girl who was living in the car park with her dogs and her van, I decided to hop behind the fences, skip over the dog and human faeces and around the back into the now derelict club.  There were some really great pieces of furniture and novelty equipment like a wheel of fortune and a life size Barbie box.  On November 28th, 2008, the club went up in smoke – a suspected arson attack leaving the former popular discoteque (it had been open since 1975!) an empty and futureless building.  Although new plans were made for the building they don’t seem to have happened, leaving this another public area now lost in the rubble…

Newton Poppleford House, Devon.

This house is currently up for auction – I think there will be a quick and easy sale so that the building can be recovered before it erodes any more.  The vines have already began to engulf both the building and the objects left behind – though most belongings look like they have been removed, or burned in piles in the garden.  Hopefully this wont another beautiful place, lost in the rubble.

Merthyr Tydfil, near Cardiff, Glamorgan, South Wales.

Merthyr is a small town close to Cardiff, in South Wales.  A short drive away from where I’m living, Hay on Wye, it couldn’t be any more different to the upper class hippy valleys that lie in the Black Mountains… Here, smack bang in the middle of the beautiful Brecon Beacons a terrifying site stands.  Everyone, though friendly, seemed well; withdrawn, fed-up, run-down a lot alike their surroundings.  The once flourishing town, which used to be home to a large Jewish community, and also thrived during the coal mining years has now hit rock bottom.  Every 2nd pub is derelict, beautiful churches, a synagogue, community buildings, a theater, and more all lie to rot whilst fake plastic pubs with boards on the windows to stop them getting smashed pop up to support the seemingly lost population.  I first came to hear about Merthyr and its problems when studying Business Studies in school – it is the town in the UK with the highest rates of people claiming benefits of one sort or another, and it also has one of the highest percent increase in users of heroin in the UK. Smack back in the middle of the beautiful Brecon Beacons! What happened here?!  The decline of the coal and mine industry has to be the instigator of Merthyr’s steady fall into dissolution, but it can’t be the only reason.. I hope to visit this place again soon to find more stories, lost in the rubble.

  

  

 

 

 

 

 

  

 

 

 

  

 

 

  

 

Coal Mine Factory, just outside Pontllanfraith, Gwent, Wales.

I drove past this place a couple of times on the way to see Betty Chicken (my Gran)!  I stopped one afternoon but couldn’t stay long enough to try and enter the building as I had to get back to pick up the kiddiwinkles from school… A beautiful big building which I am only assuming is or was something to do with the coal mining industry due to the large chimney and placement on some flat land in a steep gorged valley.  The red brick work is lovely, I’d really like to know more about this place if anyone knows anything please do comment!  All I know is that it is most definitely, now, lost in the rubble…

 

3 Storey Farmhouse, Brywngwyn, Powys, Wales.

 

I don’t know what to say about this find, a 3 storey beautiful farmhouse nestled in the valleys near to the Begwyn hills in Bryngwyn.  Everything about it felt strange; there were dead things all over the floor and I felt the one of the weirdest and eeriest sensations inside that I’ve  ever encountered on an exploration… Its story is one that I can’t put into words and is most definitely now lost in the rubble…

 

Inside Mr. Davies’ House and surrounding cottages, Aberedw, Powys, Wales.

 

  

A friend of mine in Hay on Wye told me that he had found 2 houses ‘up a steep rocky track through a gate near the river’ in Aberedw; they definitely weren’t the best directions but after stopping to some locals having a tea party I got a better sense of the area.  I actually managed to find another abandoned cottage up a different rocky track before getting to the real deal.  This house had been abandoned in August 1991 – you could see because the calender was still on the wall; in fact, a lot of the stuff was still there.  Obviously people had come and made the floor a mess, but the character of the rooms still remained – the outer walls painted a bright blue and the kitchen a bright green.  There were the most amount of half full or empty spirit/alcohol bottles that I had ever seen, alongside a variety of different medications most aged around the 1980s and still containing large pills.  It is a truly remarkable place; the owners’ suits still hanging in the wardrobe covered in cobwebs and fire still stocked in the Aga.  We drove further up the track to find another older derelict cottage that was now used for sheep supplies and hay… On the way back down the track another jeep approached us… The 2 yocal men jumped out and suspiciously peered into the back of my landrover – we wound down the window and they asked us what we had in the back, I replied ‘just a few bodies’ they looked a bit confused, when I explained I was there to take photos and showed them my camera they shrugged and looked very confused. Why on earth would someone want to do that?!  They’d had a tip off from someone else that an-un-local landie was roaming around… Oooh Wales.  A great afternoon of adventure and some of the best objects I’ve found in one place, though apparently the owner is still alive, his former life is decaying, becoming lost in the rubble.