WHY DO WE WANT TO GO OFF THE beaten track?

From dilapidated cottages to the site of a notorious nuclear disaster, what is behind the longing to seek out abandoned places, asks Katie Scott

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On holiday a few years ago, I drove past an old, abandoned farm house. There was a gangly sapling growing, pushing through a chipped and faded blue window pane to reach the brighter blue of the sky.

I stopped. I couldn't help it. I've always been intrigued by these places.

Part of it is imaging what it would be like to bring life to them again - to restore those broken panes, protect the interior again from the elements by fixing the failing roof and bring laughter to where there is just a broken chair and piles of leaves.

Part of it, though, is also a fascination with the lives that have been lived there. In the garden, I found broken pieces of tiles. They were thick with the mortar that had once held them in place, probably somewhere where they were admired.

The colours greens and reds - had faded but were still beautiful. Someone had taken time to choose them and then display them. Now, like the house, they were broken and discarded. Where were those people now? How long ago did they leave and why? And how long would it be before the plant growing through that window became a tree and slowly sent branches through the roof, and spread to fill the empty space inside? Communities around the world have created websites sharing their experiences of exploring these spaces.