A valuable property just a stone’s throw from London has stood empty for at least a decade, with two luxury cars left abandoned alongside dozens of personal items
An eerily-deserted mansion in the south-east of England is being slowly reclaimed by nature – even as lamps left by the former occupants are still alight inside.
Colin Hodson, who filmed inside the property for his Bearded Explorer YouTube channel, has visited many abandoned buildings over the years but tells The Mirror “it was a very strange one” indeed.
The luxury home on the outskirts of London was once owned by a former RAF officer turned wealthy oil company executive. And it would still look as if the occupants had just stepped out of the room – were it not for the tendrils of ivy snaking through every window and door.
Urban explorer Colin says he has “heard a few stories” about why the property was suddenly abandoned, but the definitive answer is hard to determine.
Certainly there must be a very strong reason why the house – which must be worth well over £1,000,000 – has stood empty for so many years. Not only are the lights, and burglar alarms, still powered but a classic BMW 3 Series stands in the house’s driveway.
“That is a very desirable little car there,” commented Colin, who is known to be something of a petrolhead. “Hopefully it can be saved one day.”
Later on in his tour of the abandoned mansion, Colin comes across an even more astounding find: a pristine Jaguar XK8: “I cannot believe this is in here, this is crazy,” he said. A little research revealed that the car was originally registered in 2001, and its MOT ran out in 2014.
Colin added: “It currently has 19,000 miles on it, so I don’t think this car has been used a lot at all.” While it’s probably not worth much more than £15,000, it adds to the overall mystery of the house that someone would leave this car untouched for so long.
Food in the kitchen cupboard bears sell-by dates of around a decade ago, and the wealth of personal items and covetable furniture still in place suggests that while rats and mice may have scampered through the various rooms there is no sign of vandalism.
One of the reasons that Colin takes care not to mention the specific locations of his various finds is that he does’t want to encourage less responsible individuals to find and damage the properties.
While Colin is careful to leave every site as he finds it, not all content creators are as respectful.
Detective Sergeant Kelle Westwood, of North Worcestershire Proactive CID, points out: “The rising trend of ‘urban explorers’ on social media brings with it the risk of prosecution to those caught entering private premises illegally and/or without permission.”
DS Westwood reminds urban explorers to be mindful of the law, and to take sensible precautions regarding their own safety, as well as the safety of others.
The walls of the mansion are decorated with framed prints suggesting that whoever lived in this beautiful home, they were exceptionally well-travelled.
There is also a unique collection of souvenirs containing the first drop of oil from sites that the former homeowner had supervised around the world.
There’s also a framed $75,000,000 (£55m) oil contract that must have represented one of the most significant deals the executive made.
While the former owners may well have been wealthy enough to own multiple properties, the sad state of this particularly valuable Home Counties mansion remains something of a mystery.
