We back tracked 20 miles from last night’s accommodation to visit the Kelvedon Hatch secret nuclear bunker. If you want to click on the coloured text above, it will take you to the web site. We weren’t allowed to take photos inside unless we paid a fee. On principle, we chose not to. The bunker was very well set up with so many rooms displayed as they would have originally been. The entrance is through a “simple farmhouse” and slopes down slowly to the lowest level. There are 3 floors below the ground, all below the current car park. The bunker would have been impossible to see, especially with vegetation rather than car park. The bunker is encased with concrete 10 feet thick and 100 feet underground. It was built in the 50s, had 3 different uses and was decommissioned and sold in 1992.
After visiting the bunker, we drove to Southend-on-Sea, ready for coffee and an early stop. We found a great little cafe right on the foreshore and coffee was good. We then drove around a little, looking for rooms for the night. After knocking on one door, we tried a 4 star across the road, thinking that it would be expensive. The owner was a smart businessman, he quoted a price, we said that it doesn’t really fit the budget. He had had 2 cancellations so had 2 rooms. He dropped from 79 to 74 to 69 pounds per en-suite room. We couldn’t let it go, so we are here. The rooms are bright, big, very well furnished and the bathrooms are tops.
Just on our way to a nearby pub for dinner. Margate tomorrow night.
