We’ve been exploring this little gem for 12 months now. Bats Palace was originally a stately residence. Prior to the mid 1900’s it had been a youth hostel before being converted to a nursing home. With government support and subsidies the facility was expanded from its original 23 beds to 38. Extensions were built in the late 1960’s adding another 17.

In the late 1990’s, the governments funding changed, and the added high cost of its bed-ridden residents resulted in the nursing home closing down. It’s sat disused since then  each day becoming more and more dilapidated. Parts of the ceiling structure have collapsed and fallen to the floor, including the pink batts from which Bats Palace owes its name…