Hidden in plain sight

I documented this cottage almost 5 years ago. It sat on a road I travelled on everyday and I hadn't noticed it due to the fact it was completely overgrown in weeds and brambles. One evening on my route home I had stopped outside the front of the cottage to give right of way to a local herd of cows from the opposite field. That's when I spotted the chimney. There was nothing else for it, that night I packed my camera and took off to fight my way through the brambles {it was the middle of the summer so these were in full force!}

I got to the front door which was hanging off it's very hinges, stepped inside and almost hit my head off the low ceiling. The windows were small and the light inside was low, but I wasn't letting this stop me. I went into the kitchen which had been trashed by years of vandalism, it was hard to get a photograph in here and make sense of the mess. What I did find was this blue gentleman's jacket hanging up on the wall, I presume this would have been his Sunday best. {It must have been here quite some time because it was entwined in spiders web} When I find clothing or the personal objects that have belonged to someone you do start to imagine who lived here and what was their story. {Notice the hand written notes on the wall, more on these later.}

Next door to the kitchen is the bathroom, bedsheets and shirts still hanging up to dry over the bath. I wonder how long have these hung like this - drying for eternity.

The hoover stands in the hallway, it makes me think at some stage this was most likely a very clean and tidy home. The wall paper is coming off in strips from the wall, I see this in many houses now.

On closer inspection on the wall beside the calendar of January 2000 there were all sorts of personal reminders and receipts. Some of these read: "Mr G***** please send in with a stamped addressed envelope for future prescriptions" "Oil for Gearbox + 5 pints Engine Oil 6 Pints" Punjana labels along with a Tesco receipt for Pork Sausages at £1.13

Last year I was reading the local paper and it had an article about the gentleman who lived in this house, I knew it was him as it listed the address. Turns out that he lived here alone most of his adult life, he wasn't married and had no children. He travelled everywhere on a bicycle and never owned a car. He died at 93.

The house has since been knocked down to make way for a new build.