Couple uncover World War Two air raid shelter in back garden of Mansfield home

Denise and David Randall were taking down their gazebo to refresh the garden, when they made the discovery.

As Mr Randall, 70 began to dismantle the gazebo structure, he noticed the outline of the brick-built bunker.

Their home dates back to 1932, although the shelter was not outlined on the deeds.

Mrs Randall, 65, said: "We had noticed that nothing much grows or flourishes in this half of the garden, above the shelter.

Mr and Mrs Randall have lived in the home on Ekering Road for seven years, and knew there was a shelter somewhere in their garden thanks to their next-door neighbour, who worked for one of the previous owners.

"We knew there was a shelter under the garden for two years, but the gazebo was on it." Added Mrs Randall.

Thanks to their neighbour, they know what to expect if they decide to open up the historic bunker.

"There's enough room for six people in there, as our neighbour has been in there."

"When the owners were having works done to the house, she noticed they put a lot of the rubbish from the building works in there before sealing it up."

Mr and Mrs Randall expect to find a steep set of six stairs descending into a brick-built bunker which could once have sheltered a family from the bombs of the Luftwaffe when the air raid sirens howled in the blackout Britain of the 1940s.

Mrs Randall added that they are not sure what they will do with the bunker, but they won't get rid of such a great piece of history.

"We might get our grandson up to see how far we can go, before we develop it and do something with it.

"It will take us a while to do it, but we won't cover it up until we have done something with it.

"We don't know what to do with it - we might just put some nice edging around it or a flower bed.

"We won't dismantle it - it's a piece of history and it's got to stay there."