A former World War Two bunker —now converted into a glassy, modern home— is for sale with Fine & Country for £650,000.
Built in 1939, the bunker was designed to protect occupants from air raids, gas or chemical attacks, buried under a giant mound of earth.
It had earth and concrete walls, a concrete roof and no windows, being hidden underground.
Located just outside Bicester, the bunker was part of the former RAF Caversfield, an air base with barracks, mess buildings and stores.
The site was later used by the Ministry of Defence and sold to heritage developers City & Country in 2010.
Over the following years, City & Country and architects Feilden+Mawson redeveloped the whole RAF site into a new residential development called the Garden Quarter, converting existing buildings and constructing new ones to create 187 new homes.
The bunker was converted into two two-bedroom properties in 2014. According to Land Registry records, this one was last sold for £620,000 in 2022, while its neighbour went for £500,000 the following year.
Although the structure is still surrounded by a grassy mound of earth, the house now rises above it, and has been transformed into a light, modern home.
Its façade, while bunker-like, is now clad in red brick, with its entrance set back and “The Bunker” displayed on the wall.
Pictures of the bunker before its conversion show a large, windowless concrete room, with wide concrete ceiling beams and little natural light.
Today, it is a 1,316 square-foot home, with two bedrooms, each with ensuite, located on the ground floor. Outside the bedrooms is a courtyard garden, accessed through sliding doors.
Upstairs, there is an open-plan kitchen and living space, with skylights above and full-height bi-folding doors leading out onto a roof terrace.
“The bunker at RAF Caversfield was built in the Second World War as part of a bomber command training centre. Initially designed as a bomb-proof decontamination chamber, it was built using solid earth and concrete walls, with a one-metre-thick roof,” explains Simon Vernon-Harcourt, design and planning director of City & Country.
“No windows were installed – essential for a bomb-proof bunker, but this did pose some challenges when it came to conversion for residential conversion.
“In order to turn the bunker into a home, we removed a section of the roof in an area that would later become an internal courtyard. This was crucial for providing both daylight and views outdoors.
“The external appearance of the building hasn’t changed much, beyond the concrete wall. The interior has been completely transformed; it is very light, airy, and very private.
“To create maximum access to the outside, we designed the property to be ‘upside down’, with a first floor living room opening up into a large outdoor terrace.”
Fine and Country are marketing the property as a “lifestyle choice” which “offers architectural interest without compromise, privacy without isolation, and connectivity without noise.”
The listing adds: “It’s a home for those who value design, light and a sense of place — where mornings begin quietly on the lower patio, evenings are spent on the terrace, and the rhythm of life feels considered, calm and distinctly individual.”
In recent years, a series of other bunkers —not yet converted— have hit the market and attracted considerable attention. Last December, a Cold War bunker near Bristol was auctioned with a guide price of £20,000.
In May 2025, a similar shelter in Dersingham, Norfolk, sold for £45,000 - £25,000 more than its guide price. It had initially been run as a small museum, with the agents suggesting that it could be revived, used as a pop-up campsite or unique getaway.
The previous year, a bunker in Cumbria which was owned by a veteran and used as an off-grid retreat created a flurry of interest when it went under the hammer. It sold for £48,000, more than three times its guide price, and attracted 65 different bidders.
