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.
THESE LOVE BIRDS can’t keep their beaks off each other as they share a very public display of affection .
WITH a paw in the air and his tongue hanging from his mouth, it is clear to see that this little groundhog is struggling to wake up and leave behind the comfort of his burrow .
WIDE EYED and staring straight down the lens of the camera, this intrigued seal is ready for his close up .
A frilled lizard appears to be belting out a tune as it sits in a tree with its mouth open wide .
A chipmunk, with his cheeks full to bursting, has no intention of leaving with an empty stomach .
FISTS fly as two gorillas take each other on in a dramatic battle .
With a dust covered coat hung from a wardrobe door and a pair of glasses left on a shelf, a remote farmhouse lies abandoned in the Welsh countryside .
A soap bubble lands on the frosty ground and creates a shimmering snow globe as crystals form around it .
STRETCHING his little legs in the air, a smiley leaf-tailed gecko breaks free from his old, scaly skin .
Sam Notaro built his own flood defences to protect his four-bedroom home in Moorland, Somerset Flooding is likely to get worse around Somerset as groundwater levels continue to rise .
