WELSH HOTEL ONCE HOME TO WWI SOLDIERS NOW LIES ABANDONED

A grand 56-bedroom hotel, once heaving with injured soldiers during the First World War, now lies completely abandoned. Named The Rest, the Grade II listed building in Porthcawl, Wales was built as a convalescent hotel in the early 1860s. It was subsequently used as an auxiliary military hospital from 1915. Between World War I and II, the hospital provided care for more than 2,500 wounded soldiers from Britain, Australia, New Zealand and Canada. The Rest, which sits on a clifftop overlooking Rest Bay, returned to civilian use as a convalescent hotel in 1946, before it closed in 2013. Photographer Shaun Ashford, 25, of Cardiff, Wales, visited the historic site and captured the Victorian building’s empty interiors.

Other great stories
DERELICT MANSION

With an abandoned tricycle sitting in an empty corridor, this derelict but once grand mansion could be the setting for The Shining .

FIREFLIES ILLUMINATE AN ENCHANTING FOREST IN TAIWAN

Like a scene from a fairytale, THOUSANDS of fireflies create an enchanting glow as they dance in a forest .

FROZEN BUBBLES CREATE STUNNING ICE CRYSTALS

A soap bubble lands on the frosty ground and creates a shimmering snow globe as crystals form around it .

UNIQUE TREEHOUSES: A NIGHT UNDER THE STARS

WITH LUSH GREEN LANDSCAPES stretching out as far as the eye can see, you're in for a treat at these one of a kind treehouses .

OUT OF THIS WORLD PLANET CAKES

Complete with core, mantle and crust, these incredible planet cakes are truly out of this world .

BABY WHALE AND MOTHER LAP UP TOURIST ATTENTION

A grey whale and her calf greet an audience of awestruck admirers on the Pacific coast of Baja California Sur, Mexico .

ABANDONED PLAZA HOTEL

The beds are consumed by moss instead of customers at this abandoned hotel .

CUDDLY TRAVEL BUNNY IS STOLEN AFTER JOURNEY AROUND THE WORLD

An intrepid explorer hopes to be reunited with his travel partner, after his cuddly toy companion was stolen .

BLIND MAN BEATEN WITH BRICK FOR SAYING HELLO

A BLIND man was battered with a brick in a sickening attack by two thugs .

REAL-LIFE SHIPWRECKED EXPERIENCE

THE THOUGHT OF BECOMING shipwrecked on a remote destination would fill most holidaymakers with dread .

FRIENDLY TOAD READY FOR HIS CLOSE UP

STARING eagerly into the camera, this little toad is full of curiosity .

DOG SO CLOSE TO DEATH AFTER SWALLOWING NEEDLE

A dog was SOW close to death after she dangerously swallowed a two-inch NEEDLE-Cute Shih Tzu Daisy could have pierced her intestines after eating the long needle and thread after finding it on the carpet .