At the start of Sneppenweg there is a fenced enclosure. Within stands a small, unloved building, à refraicher, carrying the air of the 1970s. The chimney suggests it once served for temporary accommodation. There is no visible electricity supply.
A brief tour of the plot reveals, through an opened door, a toilet. It doesn’t seem accessible from within.
I do not slip through a breach in the fence at the rear of the property. I know not if there is or was a water supply, beyond a possible rainwater tank, though I suspect not.
In front of the building, within the enclosure, are two picnic tables. Given the layers of vegetation upon them they have not been used for some years. They seem a relatively recent addition in the place’s history, suggesting a change of use.
Looking in from the path, there are redwoods of some age to the right, inside the fence. They are incongruous, not native, not part of the natural order but perhaps fitting, given the building.
After asking around, a likely scenario emerges: the building may have started life as temporary accommodation for forest workers, having hard-surfaced Verdunningsdreef right by. Later, it may have been a forest school base, perhaps used by scouts, possibly hired out by the day.
It is not used anymore, that is evident. The slowly deteriorating building continues to stand guard over the sequoias though in their own time, both will be gone. Perhaps these are some of the last words to be written about them, an epitaph.