The advantage to exploring a site when having researched virtually nothing about it in advance is that everything you come across during the explore is as new and as interesting as it's going to get.
There's no danger of feeling as if you're just going through the motions, or are trying to capture photos that far more talented photographers than you have already done to far greater effect than you ever will.
It's also quite pleasing to then look through some past reports of the same site, and see that your eye has picked out some of the same details as those photographers whom you admire.
But it's a real fucker when you get home and realise that there was a sodding former missile training dome a couple of hundred metres away from where you explored to before you got hungry and headed home.
The silver linings to this tale are twofold:
1. I really enjoyed what I did see; and
2. It's nice and local, so I'll definitely be making like Arnie in the not too distant future to visit the bits that I missed this time around.
Quick history, nicked from wiki:
RAF West Raynham was a Royal Air Force station located 2 miles (3.2 km) west of the village of West Raynham in Norfolk, England, opened in the 1930s. RAF Bomber Command flew missions from RAF West Raynham during the Second World War, with the loss of 86 aircraft.
The station closed in 1994, though the Ministry of Defence (MoD) retained it as a strategic reserve. Having laid derelict since closure, the MoD elected in 2004 that it was surplus to requirements, and the site was sold in 2006.
The site is now managed by FW Properties of Norwich, acting for administrators Moore Stevens. A number of the residential properties are now renovated and are either for sale or rental. On the technical site, Norfolk Oak from Anmer Hall, have acquired two of the large C-Type hangars and the old WW2 control tower, which are currently being refurbished for use as a full manufacturing facility.
The boiler house, twixt the grass...
Dora P found some owl pellets in this room. We took two home and performed a Springwatch Live-esque autopsy on them in front of the parents-in-law when they invited us around for dinner that evening. We found 2 mouse skulls and 5 live maggots. The mother-in-law was 50% fascinated and 50% disgusted. The father-in-law was 100% disgusted. True story.
Small outbuilding / former chemical store.
Apart from a dead pheasant this was the only thing of any interest in the barracks (Edwards) that we explored.
The Airmens' Restaurant. Loved the peeling paint ceiling.
View back to the boiler house.
Heading upstairs to the main landing.
When we first headed upstairs we heard a noise which sounded like it might be a hornets’ nest. Or perhaps someone operating a chainsaw in the distance? But no.…looking up we realised that the ceilings and some of the windows were crawling with literally BILLIONS of tiny flies. *bleurgh* Thankfully we had our masks on, and they seemed to keep to themselves rather than flying around, but the constant noise made our skin crawl.
Obligatory PPP.
And time to get the flock out.
As always, thanks for looking.
Extended set (including the aforementioned dead pheasant) can be viewed at my blog.
There's no danger of feeling as if you're just going through the motions, or are trying to capture photos that far more talented photographers than you have already done to far greater effect than you ever will.
It's also quite pleasing to then look through some past reports of the same site, and see that your eye has picked out some of the same details as those photographers whom you admire.
But it's a real fucker when you get home and realise that there was a sodding former missile training dome a couple of hundred metres away from where you explored to before you got hungry and headed home.
The silver linings to this tale are twofold:
1. I really enjoyed what I did see; and
2. It's nice and local, so I'll definitely be making like Arnie in the not too distant future to visit the bits that I missed this time around.
Quick history, nicked from wiki:
RAF West Raynham was a Royal Air Force station located 2 miles (3.2 km) west of the village of West Raynham in Norfolk, England, opened in the 1930s. RAF Bomber Command flew missions from RAF West Raynham during the Second World War, with the loss of 86 aircraft.
The station closed in 1994, though the Ministry of Defence (MoD) retained it as a strategic reserve. Having laid derelict since closure, the MoD elected in 2004 that it was surplus to requirements, and the site was sold in 2006.
The site is now managed by FW Properties of Norwich, acting for administrators Moore Stevens. A number of the residential properties are now renovated and are either for sale or rental. On the technical site, Norfolk Oak from Anmer Hall, have acquired two of the large C-Type hangars and the old WW2 control tower, which are currently being refurbished for use as a full manufacturing facility.
The boiler house, twixt the grass...
Dora P found some owl pellets in this room. We took two home and performed a Springwatch Live-esque autopsy on them in front of the parents-in-law when they invited us around for dinner that evening. We found 2 mouse skulls and 5 live maggots. The mother-in-law was 50% fascinated and 50% disgusted. The father-in-law was 100% disgusted. True story.
Small outbuilding / former chemical store.
Apart from a dead pheasant this was the only thing of any interest in the barracks (Edwards) that we explored.
The Airmens' Restaurant. Loved the peeling paint ceiling.
View back to the boiler house.
Heading upstairs to the main landing.
When we first headed upstairs we heard a noise which sounded like it might be a hornets’ nest. Or perhaps someone operating a chainsaw in the distance? But no.…looking up we realised that the ceilings and some of the windows were crawling with literally BILLIONS of tiny flies. *bleurgh* Thankfully we had our masks on, and they seemed to keep to themselves rather than flying around, but the constant noise made our skin crawl.
Obligatory PPP.
And time to get the flock out.
As always, thanks for looking.
Extended set (including the aforementioned dead pheasant) can be viewed at my blog.
