By Ted JeoryAPART from Saddam Hussein while he was on the run, who would want to live in a place like this?But compared to the tiny bolthole where the former Iraqi dictator was captured in December 2003, this nuclear bunker that has just gone on the property market for £10,000 is height of luxury.

By Ted Jeory

APART from Saddam Hussein while he was on the run, who would want to live in a place like this?

But compared to the tiny bolthole where the former Iraqi dictator was captured in December 2003, this nuclear bunker that has just gone on the property market for £10,000 is height of luxury.

Set deep within some of the most beautiful countryside in Britain, the unusual one-bed property comes with ample ground-level parking space and good access to Stansted Airport and the M11.

It is hidden from view and perhaps ideal for the discerning commuter, or a quiet weekend retreat.

Lying in the corner of a field off the road between Great Dunmow and Stebbing, the bunker was built by the Ministry of Defence during the Cold War in the 1950s and was designed to withstand a nuclear attack on London.

After the threat dissipated some years later, the bunker was sold back to the farmer who originally owned the land and he is now looking for another buyer.

It measures 15ft by 7ft 6in and is the smallest property that estate agents Mullucks Wells have sold.

The bunker has no gas or electricity, although there is a hand-operated water pump, and the single room, which has an en suite chemical lavatory, is 10ft underground and accessed by a concrete shaft.

Mullucks Wells are marketing the bunker as “a most unusual opportunity to acquire a former nuclear shelter”.

But asked what someone could do with the shelter, agent Tim Trembath said: “Play war games, look at the stars, camp out on it.

“It's a little bit of freehold England - and a historically interesting little bit at that.”

ted.jeory@eadt.co.uk