Abandoned underground mushroom farms are pretty common in Europe. It was a booming business in the 20th century and many old underground quarries or tunnels got reconverted into underground mushroom farms. After all, rent was pretty cheap since those place had no other use. Plus the dark surroundings and humid climate are excellent growing conditions for mushrooms. For more then a decade I’ve been exploring abandoned underground quarries and therefore i’ve come across many old abandoned mushroom farms, but this […]
Last weekend I travelled back to France with some friends in order to visit some underground limestone quarries. We visited 2 big quarries and used a 3rd smaller quarry as a sleeping place for the 2 nights. Just like expected, we were totally exhausted at the end of the weekend and still haven’t seen or photographed everything I wanted to. But that’s a good reason to go back someday..
During the second world war, the German army was very interested in the underground quarries in France and the Netherlands. Many quarries were mapped and rebuild as underground factories to build airplanes or as in this case, to create V2 missiles. This long tunnel was build within an enormous quarry and was construction to function as a train tunnel for transporting the V2 missiles that would be build and stored there. However before the Germans could finish this underground factory, […]
During the 20th century many underground quarries were used as mushroom farms because the rent was very cheap and the climate was nearly perfect. But due new techniques nowadays there are only few underground mushroom farms left. This one is one of the very few remaining places in Belgium were mushrooms are cultivated underground. However it’s on a very small and non-commercial scale. The farmer, who is around his 70’s, has been cultivating mushrooms for decades. Although he’s retired he […]
