From rq: This is in the same township that had the burnt out abandoned house. The township used to be a member of the Hanza Alliance, so it was a major stop on a river trading route, and business boomed. Now it’s a small out-of-the-way place with a lot of beautiful history but the same economic issues as most rural places in the country. Click for full size!
© rq, all rights reserved.
When I was a kid, my dad and I used to have a hobby that was basically “breaking and entering” without the “breaking” (although I eventually taught myself how to work a lockpick pretty well) so we could explore places just like this one. Never touched anything, never took anything but pictures.
I look at those pictures and all I can think is “what does it look like inside?!?!?” I bet it’s full of ZOMGalicious machines.
Marcus
Actually, the machines have long since been cleared out (collected and then delivered to the nearest metal scrapyard for a pittance) -- that’s a residence, people live there, post-boxes by the door and all.
But I like that kind of break-and-entering, there’s a lot of places like that all around the country, the issue is getting the time to explore!!
(* Although with the machines, you never know, there might be an enthusiast keeping them in museum-worthy condition down in the unlivable levels of the building, it happens.)
What a cool place. The driveway looks well used, I thought for a moment someone lives there, but it sure does not look like it upon closer examination. Wonderful rock work on these old buildings.
Here in France there is a big problem with older, abandoned cottages being stripped of “rustic” fittings, including entire floors, wall, and even exposed wooden beams. These are then resold (not just in France) as fittings for modern or refurbished buildings. Apparently, much of this is done by speculators who buy the buildings for the express purpose of stripping them. A recent New York Times front-page article on the problem, Stripped Village Homes Expose a Hollowing Out of France’s Heritage.
My guess would be that somebody uses this place, but isn’t there all the time.
What to do with all the empty buildings in the countryside in Europe and America? I think there are no easy answers.