# My first trip! Cottage in the Wolds - Apr. 09



## Tieljo (May 29, 2009)

So, here's my first proper post on these forums! Wish me luck!

This was my first ever 'Urbex' expedition, without really knowing what it was! My girlfriend told me about this deserted cottage and outhouse, near to Normanby-le-wold in Lincolnshire, so we went for a little look.







The cottage was deserted in the 1950s or so from what I can find out from the locals, this rough date should be about right, though it could have been left empty from around 1970. (More on that later).

The cottage is situated in a clearing within some woods, you can see the roof of the cottage (in the shadows of the trees on the left), and the small outhouse (on the right in the corner of a field boundary) in this image from flash earth: http://www.flashearth.com/?lat=53.443414&lon=-0.295448&z=20&r=0&src=msl






There is no front door and the floorboards as you go in aren't particularly strong, several have already been broken. 






The main room is to the right, and has a fireplace. By far the most interesting thing in this room is the old lantern lying on the floor.






Leading off this main room is a bedroom, much of the roof and ceiling in this room are gone, but there is the remains of a bed leaning up against the wall, with several parts lying around the room.










Going back to the main room the second door leads through to what I assume must have been the kitchen, this room is very much derelict, the majority of the roof is on the floor, so there's very little detail left.










Heading back through the main room, past the front door is the final room of the cottage, I assume this would have been the main/master bedroom; it has a fireplace and a window looking out across the clearing towards the outhouse.










Down the hill, the outhouse is built of the same familiar yellowy local Lincolnshire stone, it's still in very good condition with pretty much fully intact roof. Inside it is clear that at some point the owner of the cottage must have owned some kind of livestock. It very much looks like they had a cow, due to the layout of the room and the wooden structure inside.










One of the most interesting things about this find, is the artefacts lying around outside the old outhouse. There are several parts of what I assume were a fire surround, a bowl and a lot of milk bottles, some of which are semi-buried, some of which are on top of the ground covered in overgrowth.










The milk bottles give a good estimate of the time period the cottage was deserted. The bottles are from 'Clover Dairies', the final paragraph of this article from the Grimsby Telegraph Bygones section: http://www.thisisgrimsby.co.uk/bygo...ts-lorriesarticle-856553-details/article.html states that Clover Dairies, which was based in Willoughby (just south of Alford, and east of another village called Claxby!) was taken over by Northern Dairies.






Looking at the history of Northern Dairies, it was created, as Northern Dairies in 1942, and changed its name to Northern Foods PLC in 1972. So the milk bottles were left there at some point between those dates.


A very fun and very easy trip for a first go! Especially with a little bit of 'Time Teaming' to date the bottles, which was certainly interesting!

Let me know if this was a decent report, and anything I can do to improve my style for next time!


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## swedish (May 29, 2009)

*wicked first time*

Alrite bro, im in the same boat as you. Just started posting stuff on here an just thought id say that you have pulled of a nice X!

Loving the shots, the B&W front shot looks proper evil! An really like the shot through the window aswell!

Good work bro, hopefully see more from ya soon!


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## james.s (May 29, 2009)

That's a nice well structured report with great photos, nice work! Keep it up


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## Tieljo (May 29, 2009)

swedish said:


> Alrite bro, im in the same boat as you. Just started posting stuff on here an just thought id say that you have pulled of a nice X!
> 
> Loving the shots, the B&W front shot looks proper evil! An really like the shot through the window aswell!
> 
> Good work bro, hopefully see more from ya soon!



Thanks a lot! Good luck with your explorations!!

Those two shots are the ones that were photographically decent from the visit so I touched them up a bit and gave them a frame.

Thanks again, I can't wait to get out again!



james.s said:


> That's a nice well structured report with great photos, nice work! Keep it up



Thanks a lot, much appreciated!

Hopefully going to go visit some of the Pill Boxes along the coast this evening 


Tieljo


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## james.s (May 29, 2009)

No problem mate! I look forward to your pillboxes, they look awesome at night, especially if you stand inside them with a torch on a long exposure 

Good luck, hope it goes well


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## Foxylady (May 29, 2009)

That's delightfully derelict. A lovely find, Tieljo.
An excellent write-up too...it's really nice to have a story and some background info and history.
Love the window shot. And welcome to DP.


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## james.s (May 29, 2009)

Yeah, I do like that window shot, it is gloriously exposed!


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## Tieljo (May 29, 2009)

Foxylady said:


> That's delightfully derelict. A lovely find, Tieljo.
> An excellent write-up too...it's really nice to have a story and some background info and history.
> Love the window shot. And welcome to DP.



Thanks a lot 

All credit goes to the girlfriend for finding it. Apparently her grandma used to go and play with the inhabitants when she was a child! Unfortunately she's passed away so I can't ask her more about it!


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## crickleymal (May 29, 2009)

Nice photos and a nice bit of detective work


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## smileysal (May 29, 2009)

Excellent work there, I do like this. Love the artifacts lying around outside too. Excellent pics, I love the one through the window looking down to the outhouse at the far end of the field.

Good work and welcome again to the forum.

 Sal


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