Tour Report: Farmhouse "Calendar"

After exploring the forester's cottage, we returned to our cars and headed for our next destination: an old abandoned farmhouse on the very edge of a small rural settlement.

About 30 minutes later, we arrived and parked roughly 100 metres away near a former railway crossing. Judging by its condition, no train had passed through there for a very long time.

The abandoned farm was neither fenced nor otherwise secured, allowing us to enter the property without any difficulty. Shortly after arriving, we met two young women who had apparently come up with the same idea. During a brief conversation, we learned that they had already finished exploring the site. They also admitted they were a little proud to run into an urban explorer who was fairly well known within the scene.

After saying goodbye, we began our own exploration, starting with the outbuildings along the roadside. Whether they had served purely as garages and storage buildings or had once been used for other purposes was impossible to determine. What we did find, however, was an astonishing amount of clutter. Containers, bicycles, old shoes, radios, and even trophies from dog shows were scattered throughout the buildings.

We then turned our attention to the farmhouse itself, where the amount of abandoned belongings was even greater. Piles of old newspapers, countless calendars, clothing, and household items lay everywhere. Much of the furniture had been overturned, and it was obvious that someone had searched through the cupboards and drawers in the hope of finding valuables.

The resulting chaos meant that there were hardly any worthwhile photographic subjects left inside the house. Far more interesting were the numerous magazines, documents, and working records related to cattle breeding. Among them were several issues of the magazine Rind im Bild and even a cattle insemination record from 1989. These discoveries strongly suggested that the former owner had been a cattle farmer and that the farm was still in active agricultural use at least until the late 1980s.

A visit to the barn reinforced that impression. We found the typical drinking bowls used for cattle, while an adjoining building still housed a machine for mixing animal feed.

Part of the barn had been filled with large quantities of cut firewood, alongside a few pieces of old furniture, including worn armchairs. Whether the wood had already been stored there by the farmer remains unclear. By the time it was stacked inside, however, the building could no longer have been used to house livestock. It is therefore equally possible that a later owner or occupant had simply converted part of the barn into a wood store.

Unfortunately, we were unable to uncover any reliable information about the history of the farm, so any conclusions beyond these observations would be purely speculative.

With our exploration of the abandoned farmhouse coming to an end, so did our day of urban exploring. We returned to our cars and began the journey home - unaware that just a month later, the farmhouse would be destroyed by fire.

To find out more about the history and to check out all the photos from this place, click the button below.

Tour Report: The Forest Ranger's Cottage

A week after our visit to the abandoned brickworks, we found ourselves heading out again on a sunny Sunday in February 2021. The snow had finally melted, temperatures had climbed back above freezing, and it was simply too nice a day to stay indoors.

At the time, Germany was still in the midst of its second strict COVID-19 lockdown, which had already been in place for almost two months. Travel restrictions meant we were not allowed to leave our federal state, so I started looking for abandoned places closer to home that we hadn't explored yet. Eventually, I came across two promising locations: a small cottage in the middle of a quiet village and a much larger farmhouse with a barn and several outbuildings.

The cottage turned out to be particularly interesting. During my research afterwards, I discovered that it had most likely been the home of the Holzvogt - the forester or woodland steward - of a nearby estate. Sitting right on the village's main road, however, parking anywhere near the property was out of the question.

Instead, we left our car in the parking lot of a temporarily closed restaurant on the edge of the village, where we met up with our good friend Elmar, who had travelled down from Hamburg. From there, we continued the rest of the way on foot.

The property itself wasn't fenced off and was easy to access, but unfortunately it had already become a dumping ground. In places like this, it's often difficult to tell which items actually belonged to the former occupants and which were discarded there long after the house had been abandoned.

Inside, the rooms were extremely cramped, so we took turns entering to give each other enough space to photograph the interior without getting in one another's way.

As expected, there were a few interesting details to discover, but the heavy clutter and the generally poor condition of the building meant that we only came away with a handful of worthwhile photographs.

Even so, it was a pleasant way to begin the day's exploration and, more importantly, a great opportunity to spend some time exploring with our good friend Elmar once again.

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Tour Report: Brick Factory P.

On our way home from Hotel Gutsmann, we still had a little time to spare, so we decided to make a short detour to the ruins of an old brickworks.

We had already visited the site back in 2013, but it's always fascinating to see what time and the elements have done to an abandoned building. The extra stop also gave us the perfect excuse for another walk through the snow-covered winter landscape.

About forty minutes later, we arrived and parked our car beside a vast, snow-white field. The deep blue sky, the untouched blanket of snow, and the crisp winter air created a truly beautiful atmosphere.

From our parking spot, it was only a short walk to the old brickworks - although by then, very little of it remained.

Even in 2013, the buildings had already been in a severely dilapidated state, which was hardly surprising 45 years after the fire that marked the end of the brickworks. Another eight years later, after well over half a century of abandonment, even less of the original structure has survived.

What did surprise me, however, was that the tall chimney was still standing after all those years, and that parts of the main building continued to withstand the relentless forces of nature.

The tree that had grown through the front bumper and radiator grille of a delivery van - left behind decades ago by a former furniture store from Lübeck - had grown even larger since our first visit. 

Scattered across the site were still countless remnants of old machinery, slowly being reclaimed by time. We spent a good forty-five minutes trudging through the snow, exploring every corner of the abandoned site before finally setting off for home - for real this time.

To find out more about the history and to check out all the photos from this place, click the button below.

Tour Report: "Hotel Gutsmann"

Two weeks after our visit to the abandoned children's home at the end of January 2021, winter still had a firm grip on northern Germany. Temperatures remained well below freezing, and the landscape was still covered by a blanket of snow.

Just like two weeks earlier, the sky was a brilliant blue, and we spontaneously decided to head out for another exploration. We weren't in the mood for a long drive, so we looked for places that were relatively close to home.

We eventually settled on two destinations: an abandoned hotel - and an old brickworks that we had already explored back in the summer of 2013. We wanted to see how different it would look in the middle of winter.

The hotel was our first stop. It had once been one of the best-known hotels in the region and had welcomed several famous guests over the years, including King Juan Carlos of Spain. Following a fire in 2013, the hotel closed its doors for good.

After breakfast, we set off and reached the hotel after driving about 60 kilometres, a journey of roughly 45 minutes. A short distance away, we found a small public parking area where we could leave the car and begin our exploration without attracting any attention.

It was obvious that the property had once been secured. However, by the time we visited, all the construction fencing had been pulled down and was lying on the ground. Only a few boarded-up windows and doors remained. Around the back of the building, we found a door standing wide open, which gave us easy access to the hotel.

As always, I had done some research beforehand. Based on numerous reports of vandalism and the photos we had already seen, we didn't expect very much from this location.

Our low expectations proved to be well founded. The vandals had certainly left their mark. Broken windows, smashed furniture, ripped-out doors, destroyed interiors, and the remains of parties held inside the building shaped almost every room we entered.

The hotel itself was enormous, and we spent most of our time searching for areas that were still worth photographing. Fortunately, there were still a few.

Unfortunately, places like this often change very quickly. Vandalism tends to spread so rapidly that natural decay hardly has the chance to take over. That was exactly the case here, and it is clearly reflected in the photographs. There was very little genuine decay to be found.

We did manage to capture a handful of worthwhile scenes, but many of the rooms were simply empty or heavily damaged.

Towards the end of our visit, we explored the basement. Even before we reached it, we noticed a strong smell of solvents in the air. Downstairs, we came across two people busy decorating the walls with fresh graffiti. We decided not to get involved, turned around, and headed back to the car.

To find out more about the history and to check out all the photos from this place, click the button below.

Tour Report: Children's Home "Lumberjack"

Looking back, this was without a doubt one of the best winter explorations we've ever done during all our years of urban exploration.

Everything came together perfectly: beautiful weather, great company, and a huge, almost unknown abandoned site filled with natural decay and countless photographic opportunities.

On the morning of January 31st, 2021, we set off before sunrise to explore an abandoned children's home. We had only recently heard about the place by chance and had never seen any photos of it before. Our research suggested that the complex had been abandoned for many years, so it seemed well worth the trip.

A few days earlier, winter had arrived in full force. Temperatures had dropped well below freezing, and the region had received a generous amount of fresh snow.

Early that Sunday morning we drove out to meet our friend Andreas from Pixelcracker. The sky was perfectly clear, and the drive through a frozen landscape covered in sparkling white snow only increased our anticipation of what we hoped to find.

During our planning we had identified what appeared to be a public parking area near the site. When we arrived, we were pleased to see that it was indeed a more or less official car park, probably used by locals heading out for walks in the surrounding forest. On this cold winter morning, however, it was completely quiet - except for Andreas, who was already waiting for us.

After a warm greeting, we spent a few minutes discussing our route onto the property. Then we unpacked our equipment and put on every warm layer we had brought. The temperature was around -10°C (14°F), the forecast offered little hope of warming up, and with several hours of exploring ahead of us, staying warm was essential.

We still had a few hundred metres to cover, so we started making our way through fresh, knee-deep snow. Before long we came across a narrow farm track that didn't appear on any map but headed directly towards the children's home. Fresh footprints and dog tracks showed that the path was regularly used, so we continued.

After a few minutes we passed a small group of people walking with a dog. We assumed they were simply returning from a morning walk and greeted them politely. They answered, but rather reluctantly, sounding noticeably unfriendly. We didn't think much of it and carried on.

Eventually the open fields gave way to a small woodland. Just a few minutes later, the first building appeared between the trees - a beautiful red-brick structure dating back to the early 20th century. Standing there in the middle of the snow-covered landscape, it made quite an impression.

Now all we needed was a way inside.

Our excitement grew even more when we discovered that the entrance door was standing open.

Inside, however, we found... almost nothing.

The buildings had been completely cleared out. There was no furniture, no personal belongings, and hardly any relics from the past. What we did find was something that often makes abandoned places especially interesting: no graffiti, almost no vandalism, and an abundance of natural decay.

The same pattern continued throughout the rest of the site. Nearly every building was accessible, with no fencing or serious attempts to secure the property. Yet there were remarkably few signs of deliberate damage. It appeared that the entire complex had simply been emptied after its closure and then left untouched for many years while nature slowly took over.

Only a handful of windows had been broken. Instead, most of the deterioration seemed to result from leaking roofs that had allowed water to slowly work its way through the buildings over time. It was decay at its own pace, shaped by weather rather than people.

We deliberately skipped one small section of the property. Although officially abandoned, we noticed several people there using chainsaws to cut up trees. They certainly didn't look like forestry workers. Our guess was that they might have been living illegally in one of the buildings and using the wood for heating. That would also explain the rather unfriendly walkers we had met earlier on the path - perhaps they belonged to the same group.

In any case, nobody disturbed us, and we were able to explore the rest of the complex without any problems.

Since every building had been constructed differently, the effects of time and weather varied from one structure to the next. Every corner offered something new to discover, and together with the bright winter sunlight, the decaying interiors produced beautiful colours and atmospheric scenes.

The outdoor areas added another layer to the experience. We found lonely swings, seesaws, and climbing frames standing half-buried in the snow. Scenes like these inevitably reminded me of photographs from Pripyat and certain post-apocalyptic films. Whenever I look at those images, my imagination still seems to add the faint sound of children laughing in the background.

In the end, we spent almost five hours exploring the site. We enjoyed the peaceful atmosphere, the winter sunshine, and the quiet beauty of the place so much that we almost forgot about the freezing temperatures.

It wasn't until we returned to the car park that we realised our boots and trouser legs were encased in thick layers of frozen snow and ice. Fortunately, several pairs of warm socks had done their job, and despite the bitter cold, everyone made it back with warm feet and a smile.

To find out more about the history and to check out all the photos from this place, click the button below.

Tour Report: Estate House "Field of Reeds" [Revisit]

Just three weeks after our first visit, we found ourselves returning to the old manor house once again.
Our initial exploration on Boxing Day, accompanied by my mother and mother-in-law, had been a wonderful experience.

Unfortunately, I hadn't brought my camera with me and had to rely on my aging phone for photographs. Since we still had a few weeks between our trips in early January and our planned holiday in mid-February, we decided to squeeze in one more small adventure.

A second visit - especially so soon after the first - is usually a rather relaxed affair. The surroundings are already familiar, and there are fewer surprises waiting around the next corner. Instead of focusing on navigation and orientation, you can fully immerse yourself in the atmosphere of the location.

This return to the abandoned manor was no exception. From the moment we arrived, everything felt comfortably familiar. And because we already knew the layout of the building - and this time weren't accompanying any first-time visitors - we could take our time and focus entirely on photography.

The weather was noticeably better than during our first visit. The sun occasionally broke through the clouds, casting beautiful shadows across the rooms and hallways and creating some wonderful opportunities for photographs.

For more than an hour and a half, we wandered through the manor once again, exploring every floor and revisiting our favourite rooms. Eventually, with memory cards full and another memorable exploration behind us, we headed home.

To find out more about the history and to check out all the photos from this place, click the button below.