This long-abandoned farmhouse was bought by what was then Cheshire County Council in 1975 so that a bypass could be built. The house has been left to rot and decay and in 2011 Cheshire East Council decided that the land could be used to create much-needed "affordable" housing. This plan hasn't materialized yet but the council seem to still be generally in favour of the idea. The average detached property currently sells for over £500,000, so I guess that affordable housing is needed.
In any case, Urban Spaceman and myself turned up to have a nosey. (Mr. Spaceman now being one of the "Cheshire Set" had passed this place several times before.) This was our "Plan B" after a failed attempt at getting anywhere near an old Cheshire Hospital. After scrambling through the undergrowth we came to the back of the property and found a wheel-less car parked up. Not the sort of vehicle one is accustomed to seeing in Cheshire.
We found a half-open rickety door leading to a couple of ground floor rooms and some very unsafe stairs leading upstairs which was deemed not worth the risk. There was a yellowing newspaper on the floor, dated May 27th 1963 but not much else.
We came out and climbed through the window pictured above to gain access to the main part of the house. Again, the rooms appeared to be quite completely trashed with dark, with boarded up windows, making photography quite tricky.
Upstairs to four empty bedrooms and the remains of a bathroom. (Bathroom suite long-gone with the scavengers.)
Bedroom One (The Lilac Suite)
Bedroom Two (with a unique "Skylight" feature!)
Bedroom Three (nice curtains!)
Bedroom Four and the Bathroom were just too dark to even bother photographing.
Back downstairs . . .
No wonder nobody's bothered hoovering for some time!
Living room curtains (all the rage in the 1960s!)
The hallway, nicely decorated with illiterate scrawl!
Remember how we accessed the building? Well we could have just gone round the front and walked straight in but that wouldn't be half as much fun!
The house from the front.
This place is long past its best, as the council decide what to do with the site, which is really sad.
Despite the trashed state of the place it was O.K. as a "Plan B". I guess it will eventually be flattened and several box-like starter homes will be built. Or maybe Yaya Toure will use some of his £220,000 a week to build a Space-age "Eco-home?"
It actually looks pretty sound but little boxes made of ticky tacky seem to be the fashion chosen for us.;-/ Velofor
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