Protect and Survive - we visit a secret bunker

Nantwich (from yesterday)

The meal last night at the Black Lion in Nantwich was very good indeed with well cooked, good quality locally sourced tasty food washed down with a glass or two of local small brewery beers. Very enjoyable and well worth the wet trek into town.

This morning we set off in dry weather at 9am but it soon began to to rain. After 3 miles and 2 locks we stopped at 11am as we intended to visit the formerly secret nuclear bunker site at Hack Green. We did not go there until after lunch as the rain was too heavy for us to want to leave the boat.

Hack Green Nuclear Bunker

1970's switchboard with period furniture

Hack Green was one of the Regional Government Headquarters designed to enable the country to continue to be governed after a cold war nuclear attack and is now open to visitors. It consists of a windowless concrete single storey block with underground rooms from which a Government minister or senior civil servant and staff could communicate to central goverment and the local police, medical, and military authorities. It also included BBC facilities to enable information to be provided to the public.

Many of the rooms contained artifacts from the period such as 1970's communications and computer equipment much of which was powered up and looked like it could still be operational. It was amusing seeing screens and printers like Denise and I used 30 years ago. Other exhibits included nuclear bombs, civil defence documents and a significant amount of Russian material.

Also being shown was the banned BBC film of the 1960's, The War Game, which depicts in graphic detail the effects of a nuclear attack from the initial blast to the collapse of civil order as food begins to run out. All in all a very impressive and thought provoking experience, and I believe that Hack Green deserves to be much better known.

After returning to the boat we decided to stay put as the rain would have made travel uncomfortable. We have however had the engine running for much of the day to ensure our batteries stay well charged.