FOR years it lay hidden by a grassy mound on a quiet country lane close to a sleepy East Lancashire village.

But now one of the county's best kept secrets has been revealed to the public - a nuclear bunker.

And it's up for sale!

For a wallet-denting £250,000, history buffs have a chance to step back in time and put their claim on the 15,000 sq ft underground bunker built prior to the Cold War.

The hideout, situated near Goosnargh, once played a key role in monitoring potential nuclear attacks on Britain but is now used by owners - a vets' surgery based next door - to store junk.

The bunker, which can house 150 people in its 50 rooms, has two massive gas-tight blast doors and once offered protection from anything except a direct strike.

In the event of an attack, personnel would have had the facilities to stay underground for at least three months.

Having passed the blast doors, workers would have entered a decontamination room where purified air would be pumped into the underground lair.

In all corridors arrow symbols show the direction to the nerve centre of the building - the control room where there is even equipment to gauge wind direction so nuclear fallout could be measured.

Other fixtures include a dumb waiter, which would have been used to supply the canteen with freeze-dried food; blackboards for strategic planning and a giant Union Jack flag to be flown if the Russians invade.

Surveyor Rob Ward, a member of the team working on the sale, said: "This site has quite a history. In 1962 the bunker was rebuilt, refurbished and extended and what is called the End of the Earth mound was removed to allow for the installation of a state-of-the-art ventilation, heating and filtration plant room.

"Experts tell me the bunker would have easily survived a nuclear bomb on Preston, less than fifteen miles away."

Prospective buyer, Wilf Rhoden, from Wigan, said he could not believe the bunker which, although used in the past to simulate emergency situations, has lain empty since 1992.

He said: " It was intended to house people and so people should be put back in it. The idea of this as a potential storage facility bores me silly.

"We need to turn this into some sort of venue. I don't know exactly what but the structure is sound and the opportunities are endless."