# The Toy House, Wales



## Vertigo Rod (Jan 11, 2018)

This is the house that put me off visiting rural places for a long long while! Set in a beautiful location, miles from anywhere, but as soon as I set foot inside I had the most intense feeling of unease. Have visited many sites and usually just get the camera going & get down to business and enjoy. Don't believe in any supernatural nonsense so it has never been a factor to the explores. But the heavy uncomfortable feeling in this house was not enjoyable and made me want to leave despite this place being a treasure in terms of urban exploring. Went with Jon6D as I have on many explores, and on the drive home he also disclosed a real dark feeling whilst inside the house. Little did we know when inside what was soon waiting for us!

The house is an old farm house with two rooms downstairs (living room & kitchen), and two bedrooms upstairs. The rooms are crammed with belongings, especially the children's bedroom. The calendars and school books all end in 1988, so assume this may be the date the house was possibly abandoned. While visiting this house and seeing the amount of possessions left it really makes you think what could have happened to this family?

Whilst on the explore we heard loud voices outside, so we did what any urban warrior would do - hide! That was until I heard them say in Welsh (fortunately I can speak the language) that they were going to send the dogs in! We then decided to go downstairs to try to reason with them but the farmer had placed a wooden board over the window frame (where there was no glass / our entry point). He and his wife were hysterically & aggressively screaming, until she sped off in a Landrover as he said if we tried to leave he had a bottle in his hand waiting for us! We tried to reason with him - telling him we were only taking photos, really didn't mean to upset anyone etc, etc. Talking to the wooden board, Jon tried to engage him into conversations about the weather, farming, and anything to cool things down, as I listened and puffed on my vape! He talked for a while but then become very aggressive again, saying he's sick of people entering this house (as there was no evidence of vandalism or graffiti I assumed he meant us / explorers?!). He said his wife had gone to phone for the Police, which at that time we hoped was true - as the alternative we dreaded could've been us stranded in the middle of nowhere with a hoard of gun wielding farmers!!! Luckily it was true, and the two Police Officers actually helped us out of the window (much to the anger of the farmer's wife). The Police done the usual checks - our bags, called in our ID, our cameras.....all the while other local farmers vehicles gathered around us in their numbers. The Police tried to cool the situation and asked us if we could delete our photos - which we eventually agreed to do (didn't know at the time that Jon had predicted this and swapped his memory card while still inside the house!). I deleted mine, but knew from experience that I could retrieve them - at a cost - online. The Police then attended to the gathering farmers..... as we walked (at pace) back to the car to get the hell out of there...... or in this case, to our next exploring location!

Usually I leave the exterior shots until I'm leaving, when I know I'm safe to leave..... but as you've just read I did not have that opportunity this time haha! So here is a few of my (restored) pics of the Toy house - hope you enjoy and it was all worth it!


LIVING ROOM 





























THE KITCHEN








HALLWAY / STAIRS














BEDROOM 1


























HALLWAY








BEDROOM 2


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## Ha.zel (Jan 11, 2018)

What a fantastic find! Those toys are incredible and the dolls are rather creepy to say the least, especially that one on the chair! 

What happened to you is my fear whenever I'm in an abandoned house especially somewhere rural. Can't believe he blocked you in with the wood!

I had a similar experience with an angry screaming farmer a few years ago and it put me off doing anything for long time. I constantly have that fear now when in a place that some crazy will come and find me, not let me escape and kill me or something haha, especially when no one knows where you are. Makes it hard to get decent photos when you can't relax.

On my most recent explore there was a guy driving around on a quad shooting a gun, right outside the farmhouse we were in. Turns out he was shooting pheasants, but I was completely terrified and shaking with fear haha!


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## BikinGlynn (Jan 11, 2018)

Brilliant find, some of them cars are a real blast from the past.
Glad you got the pics u did, sounds like there wont be many people doing a return visit anytime soon!
Cant believe they actually did that though & what exactly did they think the police would do? some people actually have no idea of the law etc!


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## HughieD (Jan 11, 2018)

Heard a similar story from someone else re: this place. If he owns the place then can understand his frustration, but equally, what I don't understand is if he cares about this place, why doesn't he secure it properly. Most explorers don't force entry so that would most likely solve the problem. Good set of pix and well worth restoring as I guess you won't be going back!


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## Mikeymutt (Jan 11, 2018)

You came away with a lovely set.sorry I sent you there I never expected all that too happen.i remember jon saying.was horrible.funnily enough I know a couple who went a few months ago and they had a horrific time there so they are still keeping an eye on it and were very aggressive towards them.so that's just a warning to any one else thinking of going here


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## Vertigo Rod (Jan 11, 2018)

Mikeymutt said:


> You came away with a lovely set.sorry I sent you there I never expected all that too happen.i remember jon saying.was horrible.funnily enough I know a couple who went a few months ago and they had a horrific time there so they are still keeping an eye on it and were very aggressive towards them.so that's just a warning to any one else thinking of going here



No need to apologise buddy - every experience is good, plus we came away with a great story! I remember when you told us about the house it came with a warning about the farmer so we knew what we could be facing haha. We had a great day out all on your suggestions as we did the 2 textile mills too which were also fantastic - thank you Mikey..... and yes, anyone thinking of visiting here should have a long think about it first!!!!


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## Vertigo Rod (Jan 11, 2018)

HughieD said:


> Heard a similar story from someone else re: this place. If he owns the place then can understand his frustration, but equally, what I don't understand is if he cares about this place, why doesn't he secure it properly. Most explorers don't force entry so that would most likely solve the problem. Good set of pix and well worth restoring as I guess you won't be going back!




Thank you Hughie. And with regards to the house - my thoughts exactly - he could easily board up the place securely in half hour if he wanted. The 2 doors are nailed shut but the window had no glass in it (at the time) so very easy access..... maybe he secretly enjoys the mayhem?!


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## Vertigo Rod (Jan 11, 2018)

BikinGlynn said:


> Brilliant find, some of them cars are a real blast from the past.
> Glad you got the pics u did, sounds like there wont be many people doing a return visit anytime soon!
> Cant believe they actually did that though & what exactly did they think the police would do? some people actually have no idea of the law etc!




Thanks Glynn - and yes, definitely no plans for a return visit haha!


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## Vertigo Rod (Jan 11, 2018)

Ha.zel said:


> What a fantastic find! Those toys are incredible and the dolls are rather creepy to say the least, especially that one on the chair!
> 
> What happened to you is my fear whenever I'm in an abandoned house especially somewhere rural. Can't believe he blocked you in with the wood!
> 
> ...



Thanks for the comment Ha.zel - and yes, gun shots is one thing you do not what you want to hear when exploring!!!!


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## Rubex (Jan 11, 2018)

This place certainly has some sad vibes to it. It's one place I'll never forget visiting. Nice one for retreiving your photos  really enjoyable report.


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## Potter (Jan 11, 2018)

Excellent, and sounds eventful. I love that old TV, and bonus points for the old calculator on top of it. Those two shots of the doll on the chair are superb.


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## jhluxton (Jan 12, 2018)

Fascinating - would be really interesting to know why the farmer hasn't renovated the property - given that these days many farmers are talking about diversification and preparing for withdrawal of EU subsidies a holiday cottage might be a nice little earner! 

Perhaps there are some bad memories associated with the place? But even so just leaving it just appears odd. 

Being something of a fan of the S4C police drama series Y Gwyllt / Hinterland it looked just like one of those homes Inspector Mathias would be called out to investigate in the farming community. Obviously from your experience with other farmers being called out is rather reminiscent of a scene in the series where a group of farmers surround him and look as though they are about to go off on a "wild west" style posse. 

Incidentally for those that have not seen Hinterland it really does get to some interesting creepy locations amd has a bit of an urbex feel to some of the places. Its often on catch up and available in English or Welsh with English subtitles. It can sometimes be found on S4C catch up and BBC iPlayer.

John


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## Ferox (Jan 16, 2018)

Sound one hell of a place this one 
I looked at the pics first without reading the text. Lets say my opinion on a visit changed rapidly


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## sanchaaze1 (Jan 17, 2018)

What they did is classed as false or unlawful inprisoment. The old bill should have @ least given them a verbal caution


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## Dirus_Strictus (Jan 17, 2018)

sanchaaze1 said:


> What they did is classed as false or unlawful inprisoment. The old bill should have @ least given them a verbal caution



Obviously never been in an armed or dangerous conflict yourself! The two Officers took exactly the correct course of action when surrounded by a potentially armed mob - Cooled things down.


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## mookster (Jan 18, 2018)

Christ that story brings back awful memories of Maison Boon in Belgium. That place put me off doing houses of any kind for four years, and I still struggle to bring myself to do rural farmhouses.


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## Vertigo Rod (Jan 20, 2018)

Rubex said:


> This place certainly has some sad vibes to it. It's one place I'll never forget visiting. Nice one for retreiving your photos  really enjoyable report.



Thanks for your comment Rubex. Totally agree with you about the sad vibes..... strange, as I've never felt that way at any other place?!


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## Vertigo Rod (Jan 20, 2018)

sanchaaze1 said:


> What they did is classed as false or unlawful inprisoment. The old bill should have @ least given them a verbal caution



Didn't quite hear what they were saying to the farmers as I was too busy getting searched and waiting to get the hell out of there haha! Got the feeling this was a re-occurring situation for the police, and in fairness they was doing their best to calm things down. But you're right, later we chatted about being imprisoned..... but right at that moment we wasn't thinking of that, all we wanted was the green light to run!


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## Vertigo Rod (Jan 20, 2018)

Potter said:


> Excellent, and sounds eventful. I love that old TV, and bonus points for the old calculator on top of it. Those two shots of the doll on the chair are superb.




Thank you Potter!


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