Kelvedon Hatch

A trip to the wilds of Essex to visit Kelvedon Hatch. Kelvedon Hatch has a pleasant Arts and Crafts Church of the 1890s with some memorial brasses from the previous church added to the walls. However, just outside the village lurks a secret Regional Government HQ, built into the side of a hill. The start of the bunker is an innocuous looking bungalow, a little bit reminiscent of Empire, but once inside the similarity stops. Not many bungalows have a wire cage guarding a long passage lined with bunk beds and ending in blast doors. Inside the bunker was like a government office from the 1980s with a broadcasting studio and several dummies representing Margaret Thatcher and assorted civil servants. The commentary was artfully done and kept visitors almost out of site of others, everyone coming together in the canteen. The depressing commentary was all about being killed, and I wish I’d taken a children’s wand instead. All in all for the money it was not bad value, but the extras - £5 to take a photograph – were too much to bear, so I didn’t take any.