Hellingly 23/08/09

EPIC FAIL

So I leave the kids at home in the capable hands of Mr Ant and off I trot to Hellingly with my cousin and 'urbex peg' [the dog]. An hour and halfish drive from where we live. Park up and try to find a way in....

I was informed there is a little house type thing as you come into the 'drive' and to pop there and find a way. The door was open so we were very hesitant about going any further and walked down to the bottom on the feild where i saw a gate on my reccee last week.

The gate had barb wire, not too much to cause a problem but we weren't too sure if it would take us where we wanted and was very out in the open so decided to walk back and up 'the drive'.

We pop back to the 'house', cant find owt, walk a small track next to the house and get some old fart appear from the back of his private house and ask if we are ok. I tell him im looking for somewhere quiet to have a wee! [what is it with me and my stupid mouth?].

Decide to walk up the drive and no longer than 2 mins security car pulls up.

'what are you doing girls' asks the donut eater with a huge dog in the back of the car.

'walking the dog'

'you cant go up there its private property'

So we turn on our heels and go back to the car, donut eater watches us and no doubt takes a note of the reg plate. He then started down the road slowly so we guess he knows that we were telling lies [of sorts] and was prepared to follow us.

For him to appear and know who he was looking for he must have had a tip off. Was it the 'old fart' or is there CCTV there that we didn't see that picked us up?

So we drove back home, defeated, and stopped for a wander in Ashdown Forest.

No pics i'm afraid so have one of a spider that I took the other day as way of consolation....

Hellingly 15/08/2009

Right, lets do things a little differently seeing as Blogger has changed the way you can post photos. Blog first, photos after. Makes life simpler for me, otherwise I have to sod about with the HTML which i'm not a genius at....and the pics are all backwards!

So....Mr Ant was off to Horsham for a drink with the lads so I decided I would take the kids somewhere. Hellingly was calling me, however Hellingly is about 50 miles in the opposite direction from Horsham. I looked on the web and enquired about things to do and see around Horsham but decided that Hellingly it was. Printed myself a map, dropped Mr Ant off and made our way there via country roads through West and East Sussex. Piece of piss and no need for satnav or directions from passersby, except what should have been a 45-60 minute drived turned into an hour and half because I couldn't find my sodding way out of Horsham and ended up on the council estate!

Ants doesn't do satnav. Never have, I can usually look at a map and see how to get there without that or asking for directions. At least my brain has one function.

I arrive with two sleeping kids in the back of the car, who I woke with a WOAH as a deer wanders out infront of us, it stood there for a while until I produced my camera. Obviously it was camera shy.

Where to park? I chose to plonk the car in the most obvious place right opposite the old Admin building. Post widdles done (and to remain discreet i used the urbex potty that i sat in the footwell of the front of the car. No handy bushes you see. Car doors make for the perfect discretion, apologies if anyone in Hellingly did see my arse though) changed Boris in the boot of the car much to his amusement. Picnic given to the kids and off we go.

Admin is totally trashed. No roof, no nothing, just a shell. I thought Cane Hill admin was trashed but jesus this one was trashed beyond belief. Opposite stood the Chapel which was in one piece for a change. Obviously the scum who trashed Hellingly have a bit of respect for holy places.

We take the route I believe will take us to follow the outside route of the hospital, bearing in mind this is only a perimeter walk as I have the kids with me. Chops spots a picnic bench and wants to sit there and finish her grub, mummy obliges and has a hell of a time wheeling the buggy on the boggy grass and round the million and one molehills. The bench is a little creaky and wobbly and is graffitti scratched with the word 'deadly'. To add to this some bloke walks by on the road and stops at the 'Badgers Rest Cafe' opposite where we are sitting and stands watching us. Giving me the creeps.

We go on a little further over the boggy field and watch the rabbits running wild. It becomes apparent that there is a live bit of hospital next to us so I decide we should walk the other way. When we find the pathway I notice the maximum security bit of the live path, all 50ft fences and a woman roaming inside pulling at her hair and mad wailing noises.

Walking back from where we came Chops says 'mummy, a bird!' and we see a pigeon on it's back legs in the air. Closer inspection reveals half a pigeon. Skinned. No feathers showing there has been a struggle so to me that ruels out foxes and the like, and no maggots or blood, so that tells me fresh kill. It is missing it's head and neck.

No sign of creepy man.

Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeek............

We walk on, quite frustratingly as other than the bit around Admin and what I later find out was where security hang out there isn't anything to see because the hospital is hidden away behing some dense trees and bushes. If I hadn't viewed it that morning on flashearth I would never have believed that if you get past the fences the place is huge.

We see a few cars go past and some people who I assume stay at the live bit (not the fenced off live bit) and I do believe from info I gave and got back that security walked right past us but never said a word. So bravo for a reccee without the hassle. Helps having the kids and just looking like a random family out for a stroll.

We head back to the car and encounter creepy man again, he gave me the willys the first time and now I see him again after the pigeon incident so we load up back into the car and head for home.

Not an epic fail though because i've found out a few things and noticed a few things for the return which will be very soon.

Enjoy the pics........

the rest of the pics can be found @ http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v89/AnthillMob/Hellingly%20150809/

Return To Crystal Palace 19/06/09

My partner in crime wanted to go to Crystal Palace so we went without the kids. As kids only moan about walking long distances and Crystal Palace is huge.

The most hair-raising experience of the day has to be when my PIC and driver for the day drove down a 'one way' bit the wrong way. Still, we made it there in one bit and to be fair the road junction was rather confusing.

Wandered around the ruins, Peg the urbex-dog had a whale of a time trying to entice big dogs to have a go if they thought they were hard enough. She's only a little Patterdale but she's very hard.

If you read the history bit on the last blog about Crystal Palace, you'll know that once upon a time this place housed the worlds largest marine aquarium. All thats left now is a huge hole in the ground with tunnels and stuff that contain green water and rancid pigeons that shoot out and scare the living crap out of you. It's also fenced
off for safety reasons so the pics I took came out shit.

Whilst we are having a look at the Sphinx's, Peg decides she has had enough of it all and throws herself from a plinth onto the harsh concrete steps. The 'clang' noise a s she hit the concrete was horrible, but she is hard as nail and lived to tell the tale.




I wonder where this tunnel once lead? Nearby we find a graveyard of old odds and sods from the park like old litter bins, posts, signs, benches etc.

Decide to go in search of the illusive Pterodactyls that we both remember being in the trees when we went there as kids. My cousin is also certain that when we were kids you could climb on or touch the dinosaurs. I must say I don't remember the lake being their either but the only place i recall climbing on dinosaurs in was Chessington Zoo [before it became a theme park].


And what do we discover sunning themselves on the dinos? Not ducklings this time but terrapins, millions of the bastards!! What a fabulous find. Also came accross two swans and their signet which they were fiercly protective of. Daddy swan came over and hissed 'no photos', at least he didn't confiscate my camera. And witnessed a proper bitch slap using feet between two Coots all in the name of love over the female. Was half expecting her to pipe up 'leave it Baz, he ain't worth it'.

Anyways enjoy the pics.

Orchard Hill & West Park Update

Orchard hill now has a security guy sat in a deckchair outside a hut on the main road in. However it is accessible, I believe, by driving towards the posh new houses and going in via the back. There is also a public footpath somewhere near here that runs round the back.

MC Hammer is no more at West Park aparently. Further examination showed the security car which I always assumed belonged to MC Hammer to still be there but instead of he there was a fat bloke donning the hi-vis. Hereinafter known as Donut Man.