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
STUNNING UK LIGHTHOUSES

A photographer has travelled the length of the UK capturing lighthouses and their picturesque surroundings .

GLACIER ICE CLIMBING

COURAGEOUS climbers descend 400 metres as they manoeuvre their way through thick walls of ice .

BUBBLE BLOWING BEAR

BLOWING bubbles underwater, this adorable polar bear slides into his tank for a playful dip .

STUNNING ICEBERGS

In the calm waters of Greenland, gigantic icebergs dwarf everything around them .

HUNGRY HIPPO MISSES OUT ON LUNCH

A hungry hippo is seconds away from catching a bird in its gigantic jaws .

INTIMATE PORTRAITS OF HINDU HOLY MEN

COVERING themselves in ash and face paint, these are the holy men who live their lives away from everyday society .

TOY CAR ADVENTURES

These images of vintage cars, bikes and vans, pictured all over the world, could easily have come from a globetrotting petrol-head’s photo album .

VICTORIAN TENNIS RULE BOOK REVEALS GAME PLAYED BY THREE

TENNIS was a game made for three according to the first Victorian rule book .

RECORD BREAKING WATERMELON

AN American accountant has grown the world's biggest MELON and smashed his way into the record books with his mammoth 350 .

GRANDMOTHER KICKED OFF FLIGHT FOR ASSAULT AFTER TOUCHING ATTENDANTS ARM

Grandmother Janet Kirby was told she couldn't board her plane home after being accused of assault .

SOUTHERN CROSSED AURORA

YOU’VE heard of the northern lights now feast your eyes on the natural wonder of the SOUTHERN lights .

LIVING ON WATER: REFUGEES BUILD A LIFE AT SEA

SAILING over crystal clear waters, the Bajau people of Malaysia live their lives almost entirely at SEA .