Recycling Facility - Fordham

‘Station House’ nestles in the South Cambridgshire countryside, wedged between the A142 and the Ely-Newmarket railway.

The site has been owned throughout the years by various recycling / skip hire companies, and still is to this day. The current owners are based around 60 miles away in Colchester, and have no interest in the site, apart from putting a ‘To Let’ sign up 3 years ago, which they’ve now covered. There have been no recent planning applications on the land.



I pass the site twice a day on my way too and from work. It bugged me not knowing what was in there, so one day armed with my camera I hopped the fence, and wandered in alone. I made my way to an open window, and thought I heard a noise inside “Must be nerves” I thought to myself. I then noticed some movement, but it wasn’t a person, it was steam rising from a freshly prepared Pot Noodle. I looked down and realized there was a pair of old trainers neatly arranged at the only access into the house. “Sod this alone!” I thought, and made a swift exit.




But I wasn’t to let this defeat me, I pass it twice a day. So I grabbed the nearest explorer (Cavewheel) and headed back. Some photo’s are from that trip, and some are from a more recent trip a couple of years afterwards with Em_UX.



The site is in full view of the busy A142, and you just have to accept that you’re going to be seen entering the site by at least 50 people, you just have to be inventive with your disguises…



Worryingly…there was a lot of lube in the main house:


And also surprisingly…A pool table!


Trashed:




I’ve never had the pleasure of exploring a weighbridge before, it’s a shame there was no readout!


The main office block:



As we were in here a 4x4 pulled up next to where we were parked, and three large blokes got out. “S**t!” we kept low and out of their sight, but could hear them talking. The hung around for what seemed like a lifetime, then another car pulled up and more people got out “double s**t!”. We sat tight, with them still oblivious to two explorers in their presence! We soon discovered that they were buying / selling a car. They haggled and checked out the car (parked next to ours) for what seemed like an eternity, before finally settling on a price and driving both cars off. We breathed a sigh of relief and carried on exploring.

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The floor upstairs has been deliberately torn up by copper bandits, so watching your footing is essential…



The site has naturally been equipped with a large maintenance depot to service all of their vehicles.
Access isn’t via this door!



There’s not much left inside, (a few notice boards with personal info such as mobile numbers still on) But the space is well lit and has a nice ‘old garage’ feel to it.