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.

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

Tour Report: Farmyard for Sale

The final spot we explored on our tour in November 2020 with our dear friend Biggi from Der Schlittenhundehof was an old, abandoned farmhouse located right in the middle of the village. It was easy to get onto the property - the construction fence was basically just leaning loosely against a wall, so we could just slip right through. We hurried into the buildings so that no one would see us wandering around the yard. The doors to the buildings were all open, and there wasn’t much to see. Some of the ceilings had already collapsed or were on the verge of doing so; the same was true of some of the walls. On top of that, it was slowly getting dark, so despite our flashlights, we couldn’t properly assess the condition of the floors. So we stayed in the rooms that seemed reasonably safe - even though the old wood creaked and cracked in every nook and cranny.

The rooms were completely empty - but we did find a few relics left behind by former residents.

In the end, they were just a few small items, but even these were fragments of a life and tell stories about it - such as the correspondence between Edeltraud and Erna, two young girls, friends who had apparently been separated by the division of Germany.

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

Tour Report: Farmhouse "Oblivion"

Our very first stop on our summer trip in 2020 turned into an unforgettable Lost Place adventure. Long before we set out, we were warned: reaching this abandoned farmhouse hidden deep in the countryside would not be easy. But for us, that made the challenge even more exciting.

We had already seen photos online – a nearly untouched farmhouse, still fully furnished, marked by time and decay, yet full of charm and forgotten stories. The building lies quietly off a small road, almost invisible to passersby. But the driveway is right next to that of an inhabited farm, and the neighbors are known to keep a sharp eye on strangers. That meant only one option: approaching the farmhouse unseen, from the back.

So we parked at a safe distance and grabbed our gear. No sooner had we left the car than the summer sky opened and a heavy rain poured down. “It will pass quickly,” we told ourselves, and pressed on toward the woods. The forest promised cover from curious eyes – but it also held its own danger: a moor.

And soon enough we realized why we had been warned. The ground was soft and deceptive, and one wrong step could mean soaked clothes and muddy shoes. Luckily, a friend had shown us a rough path across the boggy terrain. Even so, every step felt tense, and the thrill of urban exploration began long before we reached the building.

When the farmhouse finally appeared before us, our hearts raced with anticipation. The entrance was quickly found: an open window leading into the laundry room. One last glance behind us – then we climbed inside, stepping into another time.

The sight that met us was breathtaking. Hardly any vandalism, no graffiti – instead, authentic decay. Antique furniture, some dating back to the 18th century, stood quietly in place. The kitchen felt as if someone had just left, while the living and dining room, with its old piano, exuded an eerie beauty. Next door, the study told a different story – thick layers of mold covered books and furniture, creating an unsettling but fascinating atmosphere.

The upper floor held little of interest, and sadly, time did not allow us to explore the barn. Our next stop and a warm dinner were still waiting. But this first abandoned farmhouse of our summer trip captured our imagination completely. It was more than just a stop – it was a reminder of why we love exploring abandoned places: the thrill of discovery, the beauty of decay, and the stories hidden in forgotten walls.

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

Tour Report: Farmhouse "Land of Green"

We got a tip for this abandoned farmhouse somewhere in Denmark. We were told that in all likelihood there would be no way in, but that the view from the outside alone was worth the trip.

As we still had some time after our visit to the old school, we used it to make a short detour to this place.

It only took us about 20 minutes before we were standing in front of what could have been a house. The house really was almost completely overgrown with ivy and other vines; we had never seen anything like it before. It was only the fact that it was November and many of the trees had already lost their leaves that made the house recognizable as such.

As we had been told, there was indeed no entrance - unfortunately, because we could see a lot of very old furnishings through the windows. It would have been a dream to explore this place from the inside too.

But who knows - maybe the opportunity will arise in the future!

In any case, this house was a worthy end to our tour and we drove home with a smile on our faces.

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Tour Report: Farmhouse "Biker's Heaven"

Our first location that day had been a complete success, and after discovering the beautiful VW Beetle in that old barn, we didn't think this place could be topped by any other.
As it turned out, we were wrong.

I had heard about another farm house in the same area that allegedly had a lot of motorcycles in and around it. To put it this way was completely understating the facts.

But let's start from the top.

After finishing the first exploration, we took a quick coffee break at the car and checked our map for possibilities in the area. There were quite a few spots that we hadn't seen yet, but the "Motorcycle Farm" caught our attention, because it sounded like there really was a lot to see.

It was only about twenty kilometers away, so it didn't take long for us to get there. 

The property was on a country road with several farmsteads, but we couldn't see anyone there, so we parked more or less directly at the driveway. A path about 200 meters long led from the driveway past the almost completely overgrown property to the house. Directly on this path was a trailer with a yacht, and opposite, between a few trees, we spotted a Mercedes-Benz T2 bus in surprisingly good condition.

But that wasn't all. When we reached the house at the end of the path, we could hardly believe our eyes. The entire property was full of vehicles - mainly motorcycles, but also cars and trucks. We even found motorcycles in the house itself. In total, we found fifteen motorcycles in various stages of disrepair. Most of them were Hondas, but we also found a Yamaha Virago in the hallway.

The buildings themselves were in very poor condition. The furnishings were in disarray or destroyed, some of them had fire damage, and some of the roofs and walls had already collapsed.

However, the vehicles more than made up for this.

At the end of our exploration, we took photos of the yacht and the bus. When we got back to our car, a man approached us and asked if we owned the property, which we of course denied. We explained what we had done there and he then told us that he was the owner of a nearby campsite.

According to him, he was very interested in buying some of the vehicles, partly to use them, and partly to use them as decorative objects. He said that he had already asked all the neighbors, but no one knew who owned the yard - so he had high hopes that we could help him. However, we had to disappoint him.

In any case, it was a fantastic tour with two great locations and really beautiful photo opportunities.

Pictures taken later, which I saw online, showed that many of the motorcycles - especially the intact ones - had been removed within a year of our visit. This was then confirmed to me by my contacts in Denmark. I can only hope that these beautiful bikes have ended up in good hands.

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