Advertisement
Published: April 1st 2010
Panorama -
Stone Henge, of course! Day 12-13 When one is asked the question about doing something different, I would jump at the chance. Such is what happened when a friend of a friend asked me the very same question. 'Would you like to spend the night in a decommissioned atomic shelter, Lynne... just for something different?'
I must say at this stage that the owner of said shelter is camera shy and would prefer all reference to him or the shelter be made without actually using name and town. One of those things that if a true nuclear fallout were to happen he would suddenly be inundated with new friends wanting to get in. So I shall refer to him as 'friend of a friend of a friend'.
Rob (friend of a friend) and I packed up and headed out on Sunday morning. Should have been earlier but unbeknownst to us, Daylight Saving started on Saturday night. So, thinking that it was 8.30 we thought we had plenty of time to grab some brekky down the pub but in fact it was 9.30 and we were now running late. We headed in the direction of Winchester, a
nice town with Sunday markets on, and yet another Cathedral. Not long in Winchester. Actually it took longer to park the car than it did to look around.
Next up on the trip was a detour to Stone Henge. A strange existence of rock formations on a hill in the middle of nowhere. We didn't pay to go in but walked around the fence line and took pictures. There wasn't much else to see really. Tick that off the Ancient Wonders List!
Back in the car to head to our final destination...The Bunker. Now I suppose as with all secret government shelters they shouldn't be easy to find. As the friend of a friend had not been there for a year, it took a little while to find the right turnoff. But in the meantime, I saw some fantastic countryside. Another road in another direction and we find markers that indicate to the friend of a friend that we are almost there. Yay! Found it! Introductions are made and friend of a friend of a friend has brought his girlfriend. Confused yet?
We didn't go into the bunker straight away but decided to go in to Salisbury
for some shopping, the obligatory trip to the Cathedral (a really nice one this time) and afternoon coffee at the Red Lion. A very nice place in the centre of town. On the road again and we head back to the bunker.
Through a boom gate and another set of gates we enter what could easily be mistaken as a junk yard. No more descriptions here. Security alarms disarmed and a very thick vault door was opened. Into the depths of this concrete dungeon. It was freezing! Colder than outside. Stepping over equipment, wires, boxes etc its easy to think that maybe the friend of a friend of a friend has a bit of a problem with throwing stuff away. In fact, he does, but to his credit, he has a great way of selling stuff and getting the price he wants. We go on the grand tour and nearly every room is full of stuff. There's no other name for it.
This particular shelter was built for military with large canteen, dormitories, offices, communications room and BBC radio room included. Recently a student film crew used the BBC room for a scene of a movie they were
making. Actually there are many of these shelters randomly built around the country. The government didn't want to keep this one anymore and sold it for a fraction of the price it cost to build. Apparently there is an exclusive bunker club and it doesn't allow the back yard bunker riff raff in. Only the very large serious bunker owners allowed!
There is a huge plant room with large airconditioning units and there are back up diesel generators to operate these size units too. At a mere cost of 160 pounds per hour of electricity to run these up, I wasn't going to be given the option of warmth for the evening.
There is a cold damp in this place. Such a feeling that goes to the core and you can't warm up no matter what. There are two floors of this very large bunker. As we made our way back to the start of the 'tour', I'm shown a room which is said to be my room for the night. Oh! I was to sleep on the floor amongst the friend of a friend of a friends personal collection of videos and books and furniture and electrical
equipment.
The question is asked again and with my usual diplomacy and tact I let them down easy with a "I don't think so". They weren't surprised. So we quickly made our escape and headed to the nearest pub with heating and enjoyed a fabulous roast lamb meal with great company and conversation. I slept on a very comfortable couch under warm doonas in a warm house in Frome thanks to the friend of a friend of a friend and his girlfriend.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.481s; Tpl: 0.017s; cc: 22; qc: 92; dbt: 0.2291s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.3mb
GabbyL.
non-member comment
Answer to: Would YOU spend a night in a decommisioned atomic shelter?
Hi, I might. Depends if I was desperate enough. Gabby L. P.S. Did you have a good birthday? Angie did. We just finished off the last leftover cuocakes.