The Rest... June 2016
Well... It's certainly been a while since I've been out and about photographing and exploring abandoned buildings! It seems that I'm back though!
As part of a massive UK wide tour, The Rest was on the "hit list". I have to say, I was a little disappointed, from the outside, I thought I could expect a very grand building on the interior, filled with interesting finds... in reality, it's been stripped and left exposed.
The visit was pretty easy apart from setting off alarms and the caretaker turning up but thanks to locking the main door on the inside, I was able to leave without him finding me to quickly!
The Rest, a Victorian built convalescence hospital that overlooks the Royal Porthcawl Golf Club and Rest Bay currently sits derelict, exposed to the great British elements.
Built within the 1800s, the property extends to more than 52,000sqft and was built with the backing of Florence Nightingale. The institution was maintained and supported by private contributors which included prominent landowners, industrialists, the trade union movement and a host of private individuals.
Throughout the years, the building has been renovated and re-built with extentions added to extend the capability of the hospital.
It was pleasing during the visit to see many of the original features such as the iron staircases remain in situ. Although in general, the building is now bare, some documents from the early 1990's still remain giving a small insight into what the building was once used for and what sort of patients stayed here.
Thanks for looking