A family have discovered a Second World War air raid shelter hidden beneath tonnes of earth in their garden.

Kelly and Sean Webb hired a mini digger to clear the mass of rocks and weeds at the back of their garden in Malvern Road, off Magazine Road in Ashford, and were told by workmen that something unusual had been uncovered.

They watched tonnes of soil and rubble gradually being lifted away to reveal the tin Anderson shelter, which was unusually encased in concrete.

Mrs Webb, 41, said: "It was exciting to see such a big concrete structure emerge at ground level and to see the steps to the shelter exposed after all the soil was removed.

"It's a piece of history and it makes you wonder why the tin shelter was covered in concrete and if it was used by more than one household in the street.

"The shelter was connected to an electricity supply, which was all degraded and even had the old Bakelite switches inside."

Mr and Mrs Webb have lived in their detached 1930s' house for three years and the pair were renovating the last bit of their garden when the discovery was made.

"I was expecting to have a nice piece of flat lawn there," Mrs Webb joked.

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Now the IT project manager says she wants to keep the Anderson shelter as a feature for her son Riley, four, and stepson Daniel, 17, to use either as a play den or a teenage hideaway.

She said: "I'm thinking of putting benches in the shelter but I don't think I will go as far as getting the electricity restored.

"I'd like to keep it and it can just be landscaped into the garden."

Mrs Webb said the shelter was a reminder of the threat that ordinary families lived under in the Second World War.

She said: "The way we live now you can't imagine how people used to exist with doodlebugs flying overhead and having to rush into their garden shelters."

"The shelter was connected to an electricity supply, which was all degraded and even had the old Bakelite switches inside" - Kelly Webb

Ian Sharp, the curator of Ashford Museum, said the town centre was a target for German bombs as Howitzer field guns had been positioned at the town's railway works.

He said that nearby Hardinge Road had been heavily hit and the centre of town was devastated on March 24, 1943, during a massive bombing raid that killed 54 people and left more than 200 casualties.

"Most Anderson shelters were put over a hole in the garden that was dug around 4ft deep with steps down," he said.

"It was usual for the corrugated roof to be covered in sandbags and soil.

"If a shelter had concrete around it then it's possible it may have been used later on as a garden shed."

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