Astonishing secret hidden inside building in the Essex countryside that looks like any other run-of-the-mill 1950s family home
Building nestled in woodland near Brentwood, appears to be nothing out of the ordinary
IT may look like a drab 1950s family house, but this building hides an astonishing past.
It’s home to a secret nuclear bunker built during the Cold War to house up to 600 people including the Prime Minister.
The Kelvedon Hatch shelter, near Brentwood, Essex, boast bedrooms, a canteen and even an operating theatre.
It also has a Home Office radio room and ten foot thick reinforced concrete walls.
It’s open to the public after being decommissioned by the Government.
Owner Mike Parrish said: "The bunker was originally an RAF ROTOR Station.
"It then spent a brief period as a civil defence centre through to its most recent life as a Regional Government HQ.
"It was designed for up to 600 military and civilian personnel, possibly even the Prime Minister.
"It was hoped it would ensure the survival of the population in the awful aftermath of a nuclear war.
"There were spare bunk beds in the tunnel to help accommodate some of the hundreds of civilian and military personnel that would be stationed here in time of nuclear attack.
"The bunkers were costing up to three million pounds a year to keep on standby so we bought the bunker back in 1992."
It comes as a nuclear bunker hidden under a Lincolnshire filed went on the market for £20,000.
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Used by the military as an observation post from 1963, it was decommissioned in 1991 before being bought by a private owner.
The shelter consists of an access shaft, former toilet block and store plus an observation room.
The shelter boasts three rooms with a large map of the local area on one wall.
A similar shelter was recently discovered hidden under a Cornish mansion.
The shelter was pictured ahead of the redevelopment of the Grade II-listed building above.
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