I've been doing the UE thing for a couple years now, and have learnt what to expect when I stumble upon a new location. This Lodge however was a very nice surprise from what I expected to be nothing special.
Be warned this is going to be a picture heavy one.
History
I'm being purposefully vague as this place needs protecting from the cretins that unfortunately will take joy in ruining such a delightful property.
'Punch Lodge' as I'm calling it, was used by a large business as a management training facility. It had accommodation for the people attending the training courses, presumably running for several days or weeks at a time.
The Lodge has roughly 20 rooms for accommodation, as well as lounge, bar and dining room areas.
It also has a lovely round shed, swimming pool and a tennis court.
It was used from at least 1980 and closed down in around 2007.
I'm still trying to find more information about it, and I'll add any new information I find as an edit here.
The Explore
So like many of my finds, this was a Google Maps spot that I decided to go check out on the off chance. Normally with these things its a gamble as it's either been converted, knocked down, sealed up or was never derelict at all. I had a good feeling about this one though.
As I approached it I could see a building over the fence, and what looked like a couple broken window panes.
Carefully wandering down the overgrown path, I was presented with a big messy courtyard and the front of the lodge. There was a couple fire extinguishers chucked on the ground, the usual sign that kids had been in messing around.
Access was simply an open door, so an excellent start already.
Exploring from room to room, I was flabbergasted what I was seeing, the house was pristine!
It almost was too good, I was expecting for an alarm to go off at any moment and the fuzz to show up.
The house has 2 floors plus a 2nd floor loft conversion (with roof access too!).
To my surprise the power was still on. Many of the lights still worked.
A good amount of the rooms were filled full of crap, almost as if they were using it as storage.
I found a few offices with lots of paperwork left. It was mostly tax returns and business related documents. Obviously the house was used to run a business from, but there was quite a few different business names to the address. However now that I know it was used for business and management training it makes a little more sense.
I headed outside to explore the surrounding land. After fighting through brambles and trees I found a very full up swimming pool and the tennis court.
I did a bit of research once I got home and found that there were numerous businesses that still had this address as its registered office. I don't have a very good knowledge of the inner works of running a business, but to have a registered office as the address of derelict property seems a bit naughty to me.
Photos
Externals
This is the main courtyard area. You can see piles of rubbish and fire extinguishers that have been chucked about.
Internals
The main lobby area was pristine.
This is the main door and porch area.
The lounge area.
The bar area used as storage for furniture.
The dinning room
The kitchen with everything left untouched once again.
The downstairs office with lots of paperwork still left.
Lots of silverware stuffed into a case?!
This looks like it was used as a training room
Upstairs.
The long corridor with lots of bedrooms.
A few of the rooms looked like they were being renovated.
A few were being used for storage. Most had the same bright orange curtains.
Bit of Sangria anyone?
Another office type area, except I spotted something interesting in here.
A CCTV monitor that was in standby mode. I hit the power button and all 4 cameras had VIDEO LOSS, so either they weren't set up properly or someone has disconnected them.
Be warned this is going to be a picture heavy one.
History
I'm being purposefully vague as this place needs protecting from the cretins that unfortunately will take joy in ruining such a delightful property.
'Punch Lodge' as I'm calling it, was used by a large business as a management training facility. It had accommodation for the people attending the training courses, presumably running for several days or weeks at a time.
The Lodge has roughly 20 rooms for accommodation, as well as lounge, bar and dining room areas.
It also has a lovely round shed, swimming pool and a tennis court.
It was used from at least 1980 and closed down in around 2007.
I'm still trying to find more information about it, and I'll add any new information I find as an edit here.
The Explore
So like many of my finds, this was a Google Maps spot that I decided to go check out on the off chance. Normally with these things its a gamble as it's either been converted, knocked down, sealed up or was never derelict at all. I had a good feeling about this one though.
As I approached it I could see a building over the fence, and what looked like a couple broken window panes.
Carefully wandering down the overgrown path, I was presented with a big messy courtyard and the front of the lodge. There was a couple fire extinguishers chucked on the ground, the usual sign that kids had been in messing around.
Access was simply an open door, so an excellent start already.
Exploring from room to room, I was flabbergasted what I was seeing, the house was pristine!
It almost was too good, I was expecting for an alarm to go off at any moment and the fuzz to show up.
The house has 2 floors plus a 2nd floor loft conversion (with roof access too!).
To my surprise the power was still on. Many of the lights still worked.
A good amount of the rooms were filled full of crap, almost as if they were using it as storage.
I found a few offices with lots of paperwork left. It was mostly tax returns and business related documents. Obviously the house was used to run a business from, but there was quite a few different business names to the address. However now that I know it was used for business and management training it makes a little more sense.
I headed outside to explore the surrounding land. After fighting through brambles and trees I found a very full up swimming pool and the tennis court.
I did a bit of research once I got home and found that there were numerous businesses that still had this address as its registered office. I don't have a very good knowledge of the inner works of running a business, but to have a registered office as the address of derelict property seems a bit naughty to me.
Photos
Externals
This is the main courtyard area. You can see piles of rubbish and fire extinguishers that have been chucked about.
Internals
The main lobby area was pristine.
This is the main door and porch area.
The lounge area.
The bar area used as storage for furniture.
The dinning room
The kitchen with everything left untouched once again.
The downstairs office with lots of paperwork still left.
Lots of silverware stuffed into a case?!
This looks like it was used as a training room
Upstairs.
The long corridor with lots of bedrooms.
A few of the rooms looked like they were being renovated.
A few were being used for storage. Most had the same bright orange curtains.
Bit of Sangria anyone?
Another office type area, except I spotted something interesting in here.
A CCTV monitor that was in standby mode. I hit the power button and all 4 cameras had VIDEO LOSS, so either they weren't set up properly or someone has disconnected them.
