Horlicks Farm Dairies, Ilminster, Devon

we'd been eying this site up for some time but there was always on site security as the hardstanding to one side of the main factory complex was being used as storage for light plant, mini diggers, dump trucks and the like. Still sharon and I popped up there on Christmas Eve and the gates were wide open and all the machinery had gone so we ventured in, Cameras in Hand.....


























The Dairies have been derelict since October 2001 and large parts of the site have been demolished and to be honest there wasn't a lot left. Closure came With the increase in foreign dairy imports and competition from supermarkets meaning it was no longer profitable to produce cheese in the traditional way. At it's peak it provided employment for 150 people and supplied cheese and dairy products all over the west country.

nice report CO, really like the buttons and the test tubes

Nice one thats a great find luv the buttons pic - i'm a machinery man lol

Nick.

Thanks chaps, it's a shame there wasnt more there but parts have been demolished, and all the machinery, fixtures and fittings were auctioned off some years ago

King Al said:

Cool pics, love the test tubes and the one of the pipes with the hanging plastic strips, was it a refrigerated building?

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I think it must have been originally because there was acres of polystyrene slab insulation lying around

Nice photos

I went here in spring last year and there was no security so its obviously a bit more used now.

I'm sure there's a lot more to this site than meets the eye. I have a sneaking suspicion that it was a WW2 supply depot originally but I have to do a lot more research on the subject to find out for sure.

I'll post up some photos from last spring once I find them.

hard to tell but i think developers it's had so many different planning application proposed and turned down. There are even 2 staff houses on site, both 3 bed detached 2 storey buildings with furniture, felt kinda creepy in them tho

krela said:

I'll post up some photos from last spring once I find them.

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cool i'd love to see them

krela said:

I have a sneaking suspicion that it was a WW2 supply depot originally but I have to do a lot more research on the subject to find out for sure. I'll post up some photos from last spring once I find them.

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Oooh, I look forward to seeing those and it'd be great if you come up with something regarding WW2 usage, Krela.

Excellent explore Crash, and superb photos as always. Nice one.

Lovely pics Crash. Like the pics of the delivery notes, looks like they left quite a few of them by the looks of it. Anymore paperwork could you see? or has the rest of it gone now?

The rest of the building looks very stripped out, but like the room with the large windows, any idea what that part was used for?

Looking forward to seeing anymore pics of this place.

Cheers,

Sal

ps, the first pics in the courtyard area, they look almost military ish, or maybe thats me lol. cheers again.

Thanks Peeps, there was a whole room knee high in abandoned boxes of paperwork, charts and invoices. there really was so little left otherwise, all the fixtures and fittings were auctioned off in 2003, see http://www.moodyauctions.com/archivedsales/200303-sale-horlicks-farm/catalogue.doc for more details, making it really hard to work out what areas were used for

smileysal said:

ps, the first pics in the courtyard area, they look almost military ish, or maybe thats me lol. cheers again.

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krela said:

I'm sure there's a lot more to this site than meets the eye. I have a sneaking suspicion that it was a WW2 supply depot originally but I have to do a lot more research on the subject to find out for sure.

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Clearly not

It gets much more militaryish too, what with all the nissen huts around the back of the site:

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krela said:

It gets much more militaryish too, what with all the nissen huts around the back of the site:

[lb=http://www.derelictplaces.co.uk/main/imagehosting/178647af2abe7c6d2.jpg]

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Those nissen huts are long gone now, just outlines on the floor where once they stood.

CrashOverride said:

Those nissen huts are long gone now, just outlines on the floor where once they stood.

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That's a shame

My photos were all taken in Jan 2007, I'll post more tomorrow when I have more time.

Some superb pics there, well done. I love the test tube shot, also that lonely looking bank of light switches get me going. Simple shot, but so well done. Thanks!!

Nice one - you have a good eye for the details. I take it that this place was completely unrelated to Horlicks malted milk drink, or is there a connection?

Virusman26 said:

Some superb pics there, well done. I love the test tube shot, also that lonely looking bank of light switches get me going. Simple shot, but so well done. Thanks!!

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Thanks virusman, Glad it got you going

wolfism said:

Nice one - you have a good eye for the details. I take it that this place was completely unrelated to Horlicks malted milk drink, or is there a connection?

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Glad you like them Wolfism, I dont think there was any connection to a certain malty milk drink, I only saw lots of cheese labels lying around

Hey great pics

isn't Ilminster in Somerset ?!