seven8
Well-known member
Hi All
Went out with Heather today for a nice walk, as Jen and other family member were out doing some more Christmas shopping. Heather is like me, and would rather leave shopping to 'others'... hehe, so we ventured out into the wind and the slight rain to take a look at a derelict mansion house, just outside Caerleon.
I wasn't too sure if I should consider this property totally out of bounds, but when we arrived there were no 'Private Property' or 'Keep Out' signs, and the gate was open, so as we didn't intend on venturing inside and only wanted to take photos, we went on our way up the path and to the glorious building.
The light today was absolutely dreadful; with dull, overcast skies totally unsuited to architectural type shots. So... my apologies that only one of these shots is non-tonemapped - it's just that to get the best out of the images today I decided to use 5 image -2 to +2 EV bracketing to get some spooky results. Here's the story of the day...
We parked up right next to the open gate on the country lane, and walked 50yds up a path that then veared almost 180 degrees up towards the mansion. Here's the main view from that path leading up to the building;
We walked around to the other side of the building, which seemed to be at the end of a driveway, where the front door was. The path we had just walked up is to the left of this next image.
Closer view of same;
We then walked around to the rear of the building, not much to see to be honest; just the remnants of what must have been a magnificent mansion house in its former days. Such a shame that such a beautiful house could have been allowed to fall into a state of disrepair.
... and I ventured inside to take a quick look, but there was waaaaay too much debris and junk strewn all over the floors (carpet, needles, beer cans and bottles, smashed glass etc) that I decided it was far too dangerous (and wet) for myself to go further inside, or even for Heather to only step inside. It did look as though the local youth had done their thing, which is such a shame as this must have been a magnificent building in its time.
There is an interesting twist to this trip, as... on the way out back down the path to the right of image #1, as we were walking down to the car, I spotted a black van parked on the opposite side of the road - which at the location it was parked at didn't have a convenient pull-in on the side of the road, and so I thought this a little strange.
A few seconds later a woman, dressed quite casually in a long black cardigan came through the open gate towards us. She didn't look spooky per sé, but I held Heather a little closer as we ventured down the path; tripods over shoulders, rucksacks over backs, and cameras around necks. As we drew closer to the woman, I could see she had a mobile telephone in her hand, and she immediately said to me in quite an aggressive tone... "what are you doing here...?". I replied that I thought it quite obvious looking at us that we had been taking some photos and thinking she might have been the owner, offered to show her them. She declined rudely!
She said to me, again in a very abrupt and aggressive manner, that we were on private property, and that we were trespassing. I was nothing but totally polite in my tone, and immediately apologised. I also repeated that we had only been there to take photos of the building, and commented that (1) I could see no signs anywhere indicating that this was private property and (2) the gate was wide open! She then accused me of opening it! I pointed out to her that the gate was open when we arrived. There were no locks, chains, rope or security of any kind on the 5 bar gate.
We carried on down the path, about 25 yds from the car, and she continued to interrogate me as I was holding Heather with my arm around her. She informed me that Security at the Celtic Manor had been called and were on their way, and the number of my car had been taken for a PNC check. She also commented that there was a 'hoodie' coat in the rear of my car, and that the car had been reported as parked there previously when kids were partying up in the old building!! She then decided to also tell me that this was no place to take a child... and that I could be arrested. That was it... I decided enough was enough and told Heather to get in the car. It was obvious that she had looked into the car and called security before she had even found that I had ventured onto their property. My car was not illegally parked, nor was it parked on private property, it was on the side of the road in a pull-in - so the mere fact that the car was there had alerted her to doing what she had done. For all she knew, I could have been walking along the river or just in the lanes... all legal I might add.
I informed her that I had never been there before, neither had my car, that she could not arrest me, that she should not be prying into my car, that the hooded coat was not indicative of anything, and that she should ensure that gates are securely closed and locked, and signs made that are clearly displayed, otherwise what did she expect.
OK, so I knew it was private property, but if there was anything of worth or valuable on the property they should ensure it is adequately protected and secured. Quite simply, it isn't, and is freely accessible to all. She was a total jobsworth, was rude, arrogant, and very aggressive.
What struck me as I was driving home with Heather... and that i am quite ashamed at... was that at no time did I even think to question her and ask for some form of identification. My goodness why didn't I think of doing that.
Ho hum, live and learn eh!
Went out with Heather today for a nice walk, as Jen and other family member were out doing some more Christmas shopping. Heather is like me, and would rather leave shopping to 'others'... hehe, so we ventured out into the wind and the slight rain to take a look at a derelict mansion house, just outside Caerleon.
I wasn't too sure if I should consider this property totally out of bounds, but when we arrived there were no 'Private Property' or 'Keep Out' signs, and the gate was open, so as we didn't intend on venturing inside and only wanted to take photos, we went on our way up the path and to the glorious building.
The light today was absolutely dreadful; with dull, overcast skies totally unsuited to architectural type shots. So... my apologies that only one of these shots is non-tonemapped - it's just that to get the best out of the images today I decided to use 5 image -2 to +2 EV bracketing to get some spooky results. Here's the story of the day...
We parked up right next to the open gate on the country lane, and walked 50yds up a path that then veared almost 180 degrees up towards the mansion. Here's the main view from that path leading up to the building;
We walked around to the other side of the building, which seemed to be at the end of a driveway, where the front door was. The path we had just walked up is to the left of this next image.
Closer view of same;
We then walked around to the rear of the building, not much to see to be honest; just the remnants of what must have been a magnificent mansion house in its former days. Such a shame that such a beautiful house could have been allowed to fall into a state of disrepair.
... and I ventured inside to take a quick look, but there was waaaaay too much debris and junk strewn all over the floors (carpet, needles, beer cans and bottles, smashed glass etc) that I decided it was far too dangerous (and wet) for myself to go further inside, or even for Heather to only step inside. It did look as though the local youth had done their thing, which is such a shame as this must have been a magnificent building in its time.
There is an interesting twist to this trip, as... on the way out back down the path to the right of image #1, as we were walking down to the car, I spotted a black van parked on the opposite side of the road - which at the location it was parked at didn't have a convenient pull-in on the side of the road, and so I thought this a little strange.
A few seconds later a woman, dressed quite casually in a long black cardigan came through the open gate towards us. She didn't look spooky per sé, but I held Heather a little closer as we ventured down the path; tripods over shoulders, rucksacks over backs, and cameras around necks. As we drew closer to the woman, I could see she had a mobile telephone in her hand, and she immediately said to me in quite an aggressive tone... "what are you doing here...?". I replied that I thought it quite obvious looking at us that we had been taking some photos and thinking she might have been the owner, offered to show her them. She declined rudely!
She said to me, again in a very abrupt and aggressive manner, that we were on private property, and that we were trespassing. I was nothing but totally polite in my tone, and immediately apologised. I also repeated that we had only been there to take photos of the building, and commented that (1) I could see no signs anywhere indicating that this was private property and (2) the gate was wide open! She then accused me of opening it! I pointed out to her that the gate was open when we arrived. There were no locks, chains, rope or security of any kind on the 5 bar gate.
We carried on down the path, about 25 yds from the car, and she continued to interrogate me as I was holding Heather with my arm around her. She informed me that Security at the Celtic Manor had been called and were on their way, and the number of my car had been taken for a PNC check. She also commented that there was a 'hoodie' coat in the rear of my car, and that the car had been reported as parked there previously when kids were partying up in the old building!! She then decided to also tell me that this was no place to take a child... and that I could be arrested. That was it... I decided enough was enough and told Heather to get in the car. It was obvious that she had looked into the car and called security before she had even found that I had ventured onto their property. My car was not illegally parked, nor was it parked on private property, it was on the side of the road in a pull-in - so the mere fact that the car was there had alerted her to doing what she had done. For all she knew, I could have been walking along the river or just in the lanes... all legal I might add.
I informed her that I had never been there before, neither had my car, that she could not arrest me, that she should not be prying into my car, that the hooded coat was not indicative of anything, and that she should ensure that gates are securely closed and locked, and signs made that are clearly displayed, otherwise what did she expect.
OK, so I knew it was private property, but if there was anything of worth or valuable on the property they should ensure it is adequately protected and secured. Quite simply, it isn't, and is freely accessible to all. She was a total jobsworth, was rude, arrogant, and very aggressive.
What struck me as I was driving home with Heather... and that i am quite ashamed at... was that at no time did I even think to question her and ask for some form of identification. My goodness why didn't I think of doing that.
Ho hum, live and learn eh!
I hope your daughter was okay after that encounter.
