A HISTORY buff has spent 18 months and £8,000 building a World War One trench network in a Kent field — and is now inviting the public to stay there.

Andy Robertshaw gathered volunteers to dig the acre-long system — complete with firing bays, an aid post, engineer’s store, dugout, kitchen and a railway.

14 The World War One replica trench allows the public to step inside the boots of a Great War soldier Credit: Caters

The historian and military expert hopes the living exhibit can help teach a new generation about the grim realities of trench life.

He said: "Our trench network shows what life was like 90 per cent of the time for World War One soldiers.

“They only spent five days at a time in trenches like mine before swapping with other soldiers – it wasn’t always going ‘over the top’ like you see in films.

“My ambition is for it to become a permanent site for people who can’t go to France and Belgium to go to."

14 Andy Robertshaw helped plan and build the exact replica in a Kent field Credit: Caters

14 The trench is built from detailed plans from WW1 for a British trench in the Somme Credit: Caters

14 Andy enlisted the help of keen volunteers to help build the replica over the course of 18 months Credit: Caters

14 Helpers mucked in to create the replica trench - which is opening to the public Credit: Caters

Former teacher Andy, 61, will be running a 48-hour "trench experience" over the autumn for people to get a taste of a soldier's life during WW1.

They will get into uniform and have a "bootcamp-style" introduction to step inside the mud-caked boots of a Great War solider.

He added: "They'd then go into a night-time routine of working, resting and guarding the trench before having an inspection and breakfast the following morning.

"It'd be an introduction to life in a trench done in real time.”

Andy – who has spent decades researching the conflict – based the design an original British trench near Hawthorne Ridge.

The fortified German position in the Somme was spectacularly blown up by British tunnellers in July 1916.

14 The acre-sized trench has been constructed at a farm near Canterbury Credit: Caters

14 The trench can sleep 30 people on a bootcamp experience Credit: Caters

14 Andy, 61, shows off the railway built inside the trench Credit: Caters

14 History buff Andy is a former teacher and military expert Credit: Caters

14 Andy said: 'Our trench network shows what life was like 90 per cent of the time for World War One soldiers' Credit: Caters

It is a deeply personal project for Andy as his grandfather, John Andrew Robertshaw of the East Yorkshire Regiment, fought in the Battle of the Somme and the Battle of Arras.

Andy's trench has been constructed at a farm near Canterbury — spanning a staggering 200ft in length and 650ft in depth — and is capable of sleeping up to 30 people.

It’s the third trench that the former curator of the Royal Logistic Corps Museum has built in his lifetime.

14 The trench comes complete with firing bays, an aid post, an engineer’s store, a dugout, kitchen and even a railway Credit: Caters

14 Andy rustles up a wartime meal in the trench's kitchen Credit: Caters

Andy said: “I’ve built three previous trenches, and this is by far the biggest and the best.

“I always wanted to have a really good replica trench.

“I wanted to do day-to-day life rather than combat to show the mundane, humdrum normality that was the experience for so many people’s great grandfathers and other relatives.”

He said he is keen to emphasise that the trench is not a war memorial to the soldiers who died in The War To End All Wars.

Instead it is a memorial to how they lived and the reality of trench life for them.

14 Andrew's grandfather John Andrew Robertshaw of the East Yorkshire Regiment fought in the Somme Credit: Caters

14 Andy hopes the trench will last as a fitting memorial to those who served in the Great War Credit: Caters

MOST READ IN NEWS Breaking 'REST IN PEACE & purple sequins' Money for Nothing star EJ Osborne dead at the age of 45 COP ATTACK Eleven firearm cops injured in horrific ‘acid attack’ during armed drugs raid Latest CASES CLIMB UK coronavirus cases rise by 6,178 in 24 hours in the third highest day EVER Latest DOWN TO BUSINESS Chancellor to launch 'furlough replacement' tomorrow as Budget CANCELLED HIGH ALERT Nursery put on lockdown after 'man seen with firearm' sparks police response CLUB FURY Footballer who beat girlfriend & forced her to eat paint signs to new club

Andy added: "It’s not a memorial to those who fell, as this field in Kent was not a battlefield — but it’s a memorial to the experience of living in a trench.

“It puts people in the boots of those who lived in places like this."

The trench will host a memorial event next July to remember "the forgotten army" of soldiers who never made it home.

Brothers build WW1 trench in backgarden for 100th anniversary of the Battle of the Somme

We pay for your stories! Do you have a story for The Sun Online news team? Email us at tips@the-sun.co.uk or call 0207 782 4368. You can WhatsApp us on 07810 791 502. We pay for videos too. Click here to upload yours.