A man has revealed what it is like inside an abandoned wedding venue that never reopened after lockdown.
Daniel Sims, 33, from Huddersfield, is an urban explorer who travels the UK and films inside buildings that are no longer used.
In January this year, Daniel and two friends explored Northop Hall Country House Hotel in Wales and were surprised to see how time had just stood still, with rooms ready to welcome guests.
“There was so much left behind and the strangest part was the wedding function rooms themselves which appeared like they had been set up for weddings that never happened,” Daniel told Jam Press.
The hotel was opened in 1872 and had been used as a place to stay and as a wedding venue until Covid hit in March 2020.
Many couples had paid their deposits to have their big day there, but the hotel never reopened when restrictions lifted and remains empty.
When Daniel spotted an article about the hotel’s unexpected closure, he decided to travel to Wales to explore inside.
He said: ‘The windows by the fire escape were left open so this was our entrance inside, however after looking around the place we realized the front door was just wide open. Pretty much everywhere had open access for us to check out.
“The atmosphere was very strange. Once you get over the fact that this place is just wide open and left like this with the lights turned on and everything working, it’s hard to believe that the place has been left at all.
“As we were going around the property, we got an eerie feeling like we were being watched which put us on our toes.”
Filming a video for his YouTube channel BeardedReality, Daniel shows how the function room is still set up with napkins and glassware on the table, and the bedrooms even have neatly folded towels left on the bed.
The entrance hall still has a grand chandelier hanging from the ceiling and a grand piano sits in a side room just to the left of the front door.
The group even found one of the suites, with a four-poster bed still in place.
While having a look around, Daniel and his friends ran into other people exploring the hotel.
He said: “We did bump into another group who walked in through the front door and were exploring the place, then a little bit later another couple of guys appeared claiming that they needed help as they had broken down but would explore the place anyway.”
The group spent two hours taking videos and pictures of everything that was left and Daniel recently uploaded the clips to YouTube, leaving fans amazed by what they had found.
One said: “Nice place, really interesting. Thanks for sharing.”
Another added: “What a waste. This needs to be restored.”
A third wrote: “Ahahaha I used to work there miss this place.”
