Places features

It's not every day you get to explore an underground bunker - built for protection against the threat of a nuclear attack - so we jumped at the chance to look around exactly that!

The bunker in question was built around seventy five years ago near Cheltenham, and was sold a few years ago to a private buyer.

It lies just to the West of Leckhampton Hill and is on the site of the former Ullenwood army camp which was used during the two World Wars as a US military hospital.

Cold War

After the wars the camp was kept by the War Office for civil defence purposes, and the bunker was built to provide a safe location for local government at the height of the Cold War.

But a few years ago Gloucestershire County Council decided they no longer needed it, and it was sold off. It was eventually bought, after initially failing to sell at auction, by local businessman Simon Ford.

Rumours

The bunker is two floors deep - although there are rumours of a lower floor that's been sealed off. It covers almost 1300 square metres, and has concrete walls more than two feet thick.

Simon Ford told BBC Gloucestershire: "I fell in love with it as soon as we came up here."

Right in the centre of the bunker is the map room where there used to be a table covered in a huge plan of Gloucestershire - used by planning chiefs during emergency training exercises.

The table and maps are now gone but the room itself is still there - complete with viewing balconies and original curved perspex panels.

Generator

Also of interest hidden away in the maze of tunnels is an enormous diesel powered generator made by Russell-Newbery.

Simon told us: "I believe it used to be serviced by a gentleman who worked for a company based in the Nailsworth or Stroud areas.

"I've still to track him down, because I wouldn't mind at some point firing it up and seeing if it went. It's a fantastic piece of machinery."

Enthusiasts from the Russel-Newbery Engine Register have recently visited the site and hope to get the generator working soon.

What now?

So what will the underground bunker be used for now? Simon Ford has now built a house on the land next to the adjacent land, but the bunker itself remains untouched and is currently used for storage.

Simon said it could be used for a number of things, but so far he's undecided: "It's something that we've still got to think of."

"It'll either be ancillary to the house or we'll use it for some kind of storage archive," he said.

"It lends itself to so many different things because it's such an unusual building."