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.

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

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.