Seaton Heights Hotel, Seaton, Devon - Part One

Seaton Heights was a motel (later called a hotel) and leisure site, left abandoned and unused since 2004. My first explore of the site was in April 2007 (during the same Easter weekend of my second visit to Racal Electronics, seen in the previous four posts). Then a further visit in December 2008. 

On this first visit I'd heard there was a caretaker living on site, so I was a bit wary as I walked up the long drive, nipping around quickly and taking what photos I could before hastily making my exit.

The office and reception on the right as I walked up to the buildings, above, with the entrance to the accommodation on the left, below.

According to the sign, there were 26 rooms, spread over the two floors. I didn't know, and I never thought to check, whether No 13 was missing, as sometimes happens with hotels. However, it would have made the rooms odd, unless one was used as a storage room for cleaning and laundry. 

Looking from the rear of the archway connecting the accommodation with the office, showing this lovely Art Deco staircase window. 

And a foray into the accommodation block.

An open window space, above, with an area which may have held a bench at one time.

And the lovely staircase just inside the entrance. I didn't venture upstairs on this first visit in case I ran into someone. I was more courageous on the second explore though!

I discovered a nissen hut on this first explore, which was a delightful surprise. What I didn't realise is that there's a second one and another possible WW2 building, which I found on my second visit. Seen below, the one I saw on this visit is situated next to a lovely winding path to the pool.

There's a sports hall on site too, where I once played badmington with a couple of friends and we had a drink afterwards in the bar, but I didn't see the hall or recognise anywhere on this visit. Mind, it was dark on the badmington night and I just followed the others, lol.

A peek into part of the leisure centre, which might have contained changing rooms perhaps?

And a look back up the path.

Some other photos from amongst the buildings.

  
Plus a few odd extras to finish off.

Like Racal, I decided to split the two visits into two separate articles so that I can add a lot more photos and more information without the posts getting too unwieldy. So, Part Two coming up next. :)

Racal Electronics, Seaton, Devon - Part Four: Demolition Remains

Continuing from the last three posts, I found that I had so many photos from two further visits that I decided to make a Part Four. After demolition huge piles of building materials and other odd remains were left on site, so I went to have a look and found that they'd left quite a few interesting things, some of which I hadn't seen during my earlier explores.

Oddly enough, although most of the benches had been left intact, this one had been ripped apart with the concrete uprights left in situ. The shelter also still remained as it was, along with the litter boxes and trees.

And an oil tank, which I hadn't photographed on my earlier visits.

I also saw some more bird feeders that I hadn't noticed before.

 
What is sad though, is that a couple of weeks later all the trees were chopped down. I didn't revisit the site after that but I did take some photos from the lane side through the fence a couple of years ago...shown further down at the end. 

Looking from the site towards the boat builder's yard on the spit of land jutting out into the river, above. The river was at low tide on each visit so that I could access the ledge and scramble up the bank without getting wet feet...or falling into the river! Hooray for Tide Tables. :)

Various steel wires were left dangling above ground.

The bricks and other detritus were left piled up at each end of the site.

 Missed a bit! An odd brick corner, below.

And two from a couple of years ago when I went down to see what had happened to the pigeon lofts. The fence mostly gone, and nature has once again taken over the surrounds with buddlea, other garden escapees and lots of wild flowers.

The bank by the river is really quite a lot higher now and overgrown. I was going to have another meander down there to see what has happened since, but unable to do so before finishing this, so I'll add something another time when I have the opportunity.

I hope you enjoyed this little foray into the story of Racal Electronics and its last days. Please stay safe everyone during these difficult times. Hopefully I'll be getting more stuff uploaded now - I left a lot of the more involved, longer and time-consuming rewrites from my website, which is why I've slowed down with posting articles - but I've still got plenty to go and hopefully a bit more frequently too. :)