A couple were shocked to discover a Second World War shelter under their summerhouse three years after they moved in.
Catherine Milburn, 32, and husband Liam, 34, unearthed the bunker while renovating their back garden.
They believe it could be the remains of an Anderson shelter which would have been constructed during WW2.
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According to the Andersons Shelters website, there are only 14 of them left in the UK.
The couple have lived in their three-bed, semi-detached house in Southwick, near Trowbridge, Wiltshire, with their children Noah, seven, and four-year-old Florence, for over three years.
And they had no idea that the bunker was in the garden until they unearthed it on Sunday (Nov 10).
“There’s about a three-metre-long piece of concrete underneath a summerhouse in the garden,” Catherine told What’s the Jam.
“When we were digging it out, we noticed steel bars.
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“We thought it was a bit over the top for a summerhouse then we got to a corrugated iron sheet.
“I thought ‘Oh my God, what have we found?’
“We kept digging. We were so excited.
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“Liam and I kept going until we ran out of daylight.
“Then we found the steps.
“It’s got water in it so we’re going to pump it out.”
The family have ditched their plans to put a garden room where the summerhouse stood as they want to preserve the shelter.
Catherine said: “It’s lovely to have that history in our back garden.
“We love the idea of making use of it and we want to do something different.
“We want to get some light in there.
“I’ll definitely document it as we go.
“The kids are really excited and the school want to do a trip here.
“It’s so educational for them to learn about the history.”
Regional manager Catherine says she and sports coach Liam fell in love with the house because it was “full of character”.
It had once been the village post office.
Catherine added: “We assumed there had been an overground bunker there because when we moved in there were lots of bricks in the garden.
“We renovated around 60 per cent of the garden but we hadn’t found a thing, not one piece of history in the house.
“We were desperate to find something.”
An Anderson shelter was a small, metal air raid shelter built in gardens and houses during the war to protect people from bombs.
They were made out of two curved corrugated steel sheets bolted together at the top, and buried about three feet into the ground.
Designed to protect up to six people from shell fragments and bomber splinters, they are capable of withstanding a 100-pound bomb falling six feet away.
The government supplied them to low-income families for free, and later sold them to wealthier people.
Around 1.5 million were distributed before the war, and 3.6 million were produced in total.
They became popular after heavy bombing began in the summer of 1940. During the Blitz, it was common to use them every night.
They were named after Sir John Anderson, the Home Secretary from 1939 to 1940.
