| Ruined cottage at Nutfield, Surrey At the end of a long, long journey across the Surrey hills looking for a well (Tapners Wells, to be exact), I was wandering around the footpath seeing whether I could locate any water, and discovered a shape in the undergrowth. It turned out to be a house (map ref TQ 313501). I know nothing about the place. It has no name, there was never anything more than a track leading to it, and now it sits in the briars, thorns and ivyclad trees next to the pounding noise of the M23, utterly forgotten. Not even an especially romantic place, unlike some depicted on this site - but it demonstrates what's out there. Who lived here? How long has it been abandoned and collapsed? For some reason, when I left I felt compelled to go out through what was obviously once the garden gate rather than through the gap in the hedge - it just seemed the polite thing to do. |
