Tour Report: Volvo's Graveyard

On a cold November morning in 2019, we embarked on a tour to Denmark to explore a couple of abandoned places together with our good friend "Lost Places in Schleswig-Holstein und Umland".

The first spot we had on our map for the day was right behind the border, so we only had to drive a little more than an hour from our hometown to get there.

The site is a plot of land with around 30 to 40 old vehicles - mainly Volvos, but also other makes. We don't know for sure whether it is the property of a collector, a mechanic or perhaps even a former car dealer. Rumor has it that someone comes to check on things from time to time, but when we were there, it was just us. Nevertheless, a few vehicle tracks on the driveway showed that a car stops there at least once in a while.

The plot is right next to a housing estate, but is almost completely surrounded by trees, so we were able to move around unseen. We just had to park a little further away so as not to attract attention. Fortunately, there was a public parking lot not too far away.

Once on the site, we took our time to look at everything. There is a small hut and a caravan, but they were locked. There were also some remains of walls that indicated that several small buildings once stood here - but as I said, we were unable to find out more about the history of the site, so we would have to speculate at this point.

The cars were not classic cars in the original sense, although one or two models are certainly considered "classics" by fans and collectors.

I don't know much about cars, but I assume that most of the models on the lot are from the 1980s, 1990s and early 2000s.

We even found one or two Volkswagens (even if there wasn't much left of them), which was surprising in this location, but probably not unusual - however, the tandem bike did seem a little out of place.

We probably spent a good hour and a half at the car graveyard. Then we made our way to the next location we had on our list - an abandoned school, so stay tuned!

To check out all the photos and to discover more galleries, click the button below.

Tour Report: The Lonely Jaguar

This was more or less a one-shot location. It was the first of four spots on a tour through Northern Germany in March of 2019. We had heard of this place, but never found the time to check it out, but when we were planning the tour, we thought that it was a good opportunity to put it on the list.

The house is located right at the edge of a small town with neighbors on one side and a field on the other, so to avoid being spotted right away, we had to approach from the field. We managed to find a parking place that wasn't too far away, but still low profile enough, and walked along the fence. When we had almost reached the end of the property, we found a hole in the fence and went in.

There was a lot of undergrowth, so it was hard to move around, but we made our way to the carport. And there it was - a beautiful old Jaguar Mark 2.

Of course, it wasn't in the best condition - there was plenty of rust on the outside, and parts of the interior had been stripped, but I was sure that the car could (and should) be restored. Someone else sure thought the same, because only a few months later, the car was towed away.

Also on the premises was a garage and a barn - both inaccessible - and a gazebo which supposedly was open, but we couldn't reach it because of the undergrowth surrounding it. The house itself was beautiful, but there wasn't any way in as well, so we had to be content with a few outside photos and the photos of the Jaguar.

It was a great start for our day trip!

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

Tour Report: A Few Cars by the Road

It actually happens pretty often: You're on your way from one location to the next, or you're already on your way home - and then you look out of the car window, and you spot something that might be worth at least a second look. It happens - someone always yells, "Stop! We have to check this out!".

Usually it's because there's an old brick chimney somewhere (always a good sign) or a building with boarded windows, but in this case, there were a few cars just standing there on the yard of a former farmhouse. We stopped the car, parked on the field right next door and walked over to the house. It didn't really look abandoned, nor did it really look lived in, but we rang the bell anyway. No one opened, so we looked around to see if we spotted anyone who may be able to tell us something about the place. There was not a soul in sight.

So we decided to just take a few photos of the cars and then be on our way again.

The cars were all British built, but with one exception all made for the continental market with the steering wheel on the left side. Finding British cars again was nice for a change, since for some reason, in Denmark we mostly find Volvos and various German cars.

To check out more photos from abandoned places, click the button below.

Tour Report: The Farm of Cars [Revisit]

Exactly one year after our first exploration of the "Farm of Cars", we returned for a revisit. We'd already spent most of our time at the abandoned children's home, and we didn't have a lot of time left before the sun would be starting to set again.

So we decided to pay a revisit to this place, because it was on the way, and Freddy hadn't seen it yet.

As it turns out, it was (almost) too late.

When we arrived, we parked in the exact same spot as the year before. My wife and her mother decided to stay in the car, since they both had seen this place together with me the year before, so Freddy and I went by ourselves.

I already found it peculiar that the front door to the house had been boarded with OSB plates. It gave me a sense of foreboding... We went past the house towards the back yard. There were no cars left there. The place had obviously been cleared.

We were too late.

In the barn, we did find that one car was still there - the old Peugeot 403 that had been the highlight for me during our first visit. So at least we hadn't stopped there for nothing, and we got a few photos out of this place.

We finished off pretty quickly, went back to the car and drove home - after all, it was Christmas, and dinner was waiting :)

To check out all the photos from this place, click the button below.

Tour Report: The Princess & the Cat [DK]

We had finished exploring the second of two abandoned farmhouses that day, and we were ready for the next spot. This next spot however was bad news in two ways. First, it was in use again, andsecond,  we had to conduct some unexpected "repairs" on Dan's car...
No matter, we drove on to the next spot. It was an old house outside a small village in a rural area of the island of Fyn. We didn't have any information regarding the place, but it looked promising at the first look while driving by. We parked a bit down the road and just walked up to the place. The house seemed to belong to some company, and it was definitely abandoned.
But there was no way in. We sneaked around the building about three times, checking every possible access. Doors, windows...no chance, evrything was locked tightly. And it had looked so promising. Lots of furniture, decay - but no vandalism. We were a bit disappointed and started leaving when my wife pointed out the barn. She just said, "Look!".
There was an old headlight kind of peeking around the barn door, almost looking right at us. It belonged to a beautiful old car that we didn't know the type of. And as if that wasn't enough, there was a second old car standing right next to it. I instantly knew that this was an old Jaguar.
It was the first time that I'd discovered real "vintage" cars. Of course, I've seen some cars in the locations that I explored, but never classics such as these two.
The Jaguar was quickly identified - a Mk VII built in the early 1950s. The second one took a bit longer to find out, but we managed. It was a Vanden Plas Princess 4 Litre R which was built in the middle of the 1960s.
So in spite of the initial disappointment, the spot held a very cool surprise for us - and I'm sure that we'll get to explore the house as well :)


To check out all the photos from the two classics and to find more galleries from abandoned places, click the button below.

Tour Report: The Farm of Cars

This place was the second and final spot of our X-Mas Exploration in 2016. After successfully exploring the old chalk pit, we drove for about 45 minutes until we got to this place.
I had gotten a tip that there were old cars to be discovered, so we had decided to check it out.
We parked a little down the road, yet far enough from the neighbors' house as not to attract any attention. The wind blew fierce, so we hurried to get into the house, and we quickly found an open door by the side of the main building.
The house itself was pretty ramshackle and had been vandalized, so there weren't too many shots to be taken there. But the barn and the back yard did hold some automotive tresures for us, so to speak. Nothing spectacular, but nice to look at, and the red 1955 Peugeot 403 was really nice to look at.

As we were packing our stuff back into the car when we were done, a little girl (probably the neighbor's daughter) approached us and asked what we were doing. We told her that we were taking photos of the old building because we are fascinated by "old stuff". She asked more questions in a way that made the questions feel kind suspicious. We suspected that she was sent by the neighbor - possibly the owner of the place - to check if we were looking for criminal things such as illegal waste disposal or something...
Anyway, after this short episode, we drove home and were back just in time for coffee :)


To check out all the photos from this neat little place, click the button below.