HISTORY buffs with £600,000 to spare have the chance to live in a former country house where resistance fighters once prepared to fight Hitler.
Hazells Hall was a temporary home for many of the brave men and women who flew to an uncertain fate from nearby RAF Tempsford, dubbed Britain’s most secret airfield during the Second World War.
The 300-year-old building near Sandy, Bedfordshire, has since been converted into luxury homes, one of which is currently on sale.
The buyer will live in some of the same rooms where almost 1,000 agents trained and lived before undertaking hugely dangerous missions in occupied Europe.
Large areas of the 14-acre estate were used to stockpile vast quantities of weapons and ammunition.
But today Hazells Hall is an haven of peace and tranquility, featuring a tennis court where bombs and bullets were likely to have been stored.
The property for sale – 2 Clock Tower Cottages – boasts three bedrooms, two reception rooms and all the conveniences of modern living.
Just over 75 years ago, Allied special forces troops would have been preparing there for missions ahead of the D Day landings.
The building dates back to the 1700s but was requisitioned by the military in 1941.
Once ready, soldiers, secret agents and resistance fighters made a three-mile trip from Hazells Hall to the secret airbase at RAF Tempsford.
From there, a total of 995 agents were flown to various parts of Europe and dropped by parachute.
The base delivered a further 29,000 containers of supplies and weapons during the conflict.
After 1945, the property was converted to become an NHS hospital.
The government lease ended in 1968 and Hazells Hall fell into disrepair but was saved by Kit Martin, an architect known for restoring old properties.
The current owners, who wish to remain anonymous, said: “It’s a place that seems almost too good to be true.
“The house sits within these beautiful grounds, which in turn are surrounded by rolling green fields and heathland, so you feel a million miles from anywhere, and yet in reality everything we might want or need is just a stone’s throw away.”
