Surrounded by barbed wire, sandbags and mud, this 60ft trench is barely distinguishable from those occupied by British soldiers fighting in the First World War almost a century ago.
The enormous dugout has been painstakingly recreated by an ex-history teacher in his back garden in Surrey, and the dedicated 55-year-old even spent 24 hours living in its confines with a team of volunteers as part of his efforts to experience life as a WWI soldier.
Andrew Robertshaw and 30 helpers spent a month shifting around 200 tonnes of earth to build the enormous three-room trench, which he hopes will teach people more about the horrific living conditions endured by British troops during the Great War.
The father-of-one has even spent 24 hours living in the hole - which features a kitchen, infantry room, and officers’ dugout - as part of an overnight re-enactment of trench warfare in the garden in Charlwood.
Mr Robertshaw - who acted as a military advisor on the Steven Spielberg epic War Horse - and a band of volunteers dressed up in replica uniforms and used rifles to fire blanks into the countryside during their stint in the trench.
‘My grandfather fought in the war and was wounded three times,’ said the historian, who also runs the Royal Logistics Corps Museum in Deepcut, Surrey.
‘I wanted to show people that the war was about survival and not just about death. When the soldiers weren’t fighting this is how they were living.
‘The most common experience was living in a trench and trying to be as comfortable as possible while living in a hole in the ground,’ he added.
