Today I had the joy of experiencing a nuclear explosion.  Okay, so maybe not a real one or else I wouldn’t be able to write this.  My family and I were at ‘Scotland’s Secret Bunker’, 100ft under a farmhouse not too far from St Andrews, the Government’s best kept secret for 40 years.

Why is there a bunker 100ft under an unsuspecting Scottish farmhouse? Simple.  So that in the eventuality of nuclear warfare, the Government has somewhere safe to store their people, where they could still run the country.   Well, they had.  It’s no longer a secret, and has been a museum since 1994 (the Government decided in 1993 that they could no longer afford to keep it).    The entrance fee may seem a little steep (adult tickets are £9.50ish, and there’s discounts for children under 14 and concessions; 2 adults, 2 concessions and a child £45) but for a one-off, if you’re in the area, it’s definitely worth a look.

The museum consists of 2 of the bunkers 3 floors, and the rooms are laid out exactly as the bunker was when it was active with original equipment, and also includes a room dedicated to the work of the Royal Observer Corps from Dundee.  There’s a room where you can try on some old uniforms that some of the relevant organisations would have worn.  This said, it’s not a hands-on attraction and would be more aimed towards teens and adults, not younger ones.   There’s even a shop at the end(all good attraction have a shop)!  We were there for about 3 hours, but you could have spent more time there if you wanted, especially on a nice day as there was also things to see outside.

The biggest negative about the Bunker, for us anyway, is the cafe.  Their blue slush is amazing, their Fanta and Coke were in glass bottles (my brother thought this was the coolest thing), and I never heard any complaints about Granny’s cup of coffee.  The food, however, was a slightly different story- the macaroni was mediocre at best, the scampi was overcooked and the tables were disgustingly sticky (eww.)

www.secretbunker.co.uk