Zwembad De Koekoek
THE ABANDONED SWIMMING POOL
‘Zwembad De Koekoek’ is an abandoned pool in Hechtel, Belgium.
This small indoor pool was well hidden just outside the town Hechtel, behind an abandoned villa. After checking out the villa, we found this swimming pool ‘De Koekoek’. Everything in the pool was still in its place, except for the water. The abandoned villa used to be the house of a local baker. It housed a bakery and a shop.
Snorkel, fins and swim goggles were all over the place. We even found the empty cash register in the corner. The pool and villa was sold in 2009 to a couple for 450 thousand euros. But it turned out to be much more difficult to manage the pool than first assumed. Selling the property became difficult so the rented the site to a Dutch couple. They claimed to run a parrot farm. Six months later, in July 2007, the police raided the building and they found a big cannabis plantation in the villa. The tenants housed a cannabis plantation of more than 15 thousand plants.
In 2012 the site was sold to a day care center. I took these photos of De Koekoek in 2008.
