All quiet on the Western Front garden! WWI expert turns his yard into trench system to show what life was really like on the front line



Andrew Robertshaw, 58, built the 60ft trench with 30 volunteers i n a field behind his former home in Surr ey

Spent a month shifting 200 tons of earth to build dugout, which features officers' mess and soldiers' quarters



Hopes to teach people more about the horrific living conditions endured by British troops during the Great War

The historian said that films and TV shows often offer a simplistic and inaccurate view of life on the front line

Hosts open days and educational visits to the trench, which was designed based on war time diary descriptions




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 a century ago.



The enormous dugout has been painstakingly recreated by an ex-history teacher in the field behind his former house in Surrey, and the dedicated 58-year-old has even spent time living in its confines with a team of volunteers as part of his efforts to experience life as a WWI soldier.



First World War historian Andrew Robertshaw and 30 volunteers - including a detachment of troops returning from Afghanistan - spent a month shifting 200 tons 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.

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Life on the front line: Andrew Robertshaw's 60ft trench, surrounded by barbed wire, sandbags and mud, snakes through a field behind his former home in Surrey

Andrew Robertshaw, dressed in military uniform from the First World War, looks out from the trench, which he spent months building with 30 volunteers Immersive experience: Mr Robertshaw, pictured left in uniform and right eating in the trench, hopes that the project will teach people what trench life was really like Dug into the dirt: Dressed in military uniform, Mr Robertshaw walks through the trench, where corrugated iron lines the crumbling dirt walls

Officers' quarters: Mr Robertshaw lights a small fire inside one of the three rooms in the trench, decorated with faded pictures and maps from the period

It snakes for nearly 100 yards through half an acre of field behind his former home and features a kitchen, soldiers' quarters and officers' mess - complete with vegetables hanging from the low ceiling.

The father-of-one said the trench started out as a way to recreate what it would have been like to live on the front line - accurately capturing the 'minutiae' of the experience in a way that films and TV shows often fail to do.



He said: 'People see trenches as places you lived briefly before you went over the top. But they were places you lived for lengths of time.'



'[In films] either soldiers are going over the top to certain deaths, or living in the trenches for weeks on end.' The reality, he explained, was much less exciting.



'You would live there for five days and then go away for 20 and then come back again. There is a routine to it.

'One veteran told me that during his time in the trenches he was "90% bored stiff, 9% frozen stiff and 1% scared stiff".'

No Man's Land: Barbed wire runs across the field in Charlwood, Surrey, protecting the trench from would-be enemies

Harsh reality: Mr Robertshaw, pictured in the trench, said that films and TV shows often showed the trenches as more spacious and comfortable than they in fact were

Ready for action: The trench features an officers' mess and even has its own mock railway track, pictured on the left, which soldiers would have used to bring in supplies

'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

Mr Robertshaw's quest to accurately reflect these experiences started from the ground up - literally.



He said: 'It is as a trench as it would have been in Ypres in 1917. It is based on a Belgian trench because the geology of the ground is the same as the ground here.'



It was designed using a war diary from a soldier from the 1/5th Battalion of the King's Liverpool Regiment, who were stationed near Railway Wood on the Ypres Salient that year.



And while Mr Robertshaw and his team were assisted by a JCB digger rather than a shovel and pick-axe when building the trench, everything else - from the width of the hole to the vegetables hanging in the officers' mess - is authentic.

Sentry duty: Using the same equipment that was available to soldiers in WWI, Mr Robertshaw keeps an eye out for approaching enemies

Cramped conditions: Perched on a small wooden crate at one end of the snaking trench, Mr Robertshaw eats his meal from a tin can Boredom: Mr Robertshaw explained that life in the trenches weren't all gunfire and action - and that many spent time reading, right, or waiting for something to happen

Supply chain: The trench even has its own nearby railway line, which soldiers would have used to transport rations and weaponry

Some of the props and material came from the set of Steven Speilberg's film War Horse - on which Mr Robertshaw was a historical adviser.



And the author insists its back garden location - the trench is overlooked by a number of other houses in Charlwood - doesn't take away from its educational and historical significance.



He said: 'I never say this is the Western Front. I tell people to come and experience it as it is.

'The fact that you are next to a large white house and easyJet is behind you doesn't detract from the experience.'



While the sprawling trench is overlooked by a number of other houses in Charlwood, Mr Robertshaw said he had received no complaints from neighbours and some even made cups of tea for the 'troops' during the overnight battle re-enactment.

The passionate historian said that he has spent two weeks cumulatively living in the trench as part of special overnight reenactments but said that his wife Janice, a secondary school history teacher, has more sense than to join.



From the ground up: Mr Robertshaw chose to recreate what a trench near Ypres in Belgium would have been like, as the geology of the soil was the closest match Movie props: Mr Robertshaw, who was a historical adviser on Steven Speilberg's War Horse, said that some of the material used in the trench was taken from the set



Ready for attack: Mr Robertshaw invites historical societies and schools to experience what life was like - from the living conditions to the weapons used Little touches: A metal mug is left on the side of the trench - just one of the historically-accurate details that create the feeling of authenticity in Mr Robertshaw's trench

Since building the dugout in 2011, Mr Robertshaw has sold his Surrey house and moved, but eager to hold on to the results of his ambitious project, he has retained ownership of the land housing the trench.



Mr Robertshaw first used the 60ft trench, which he describes as an educational tool rather than a public attraction, as part of an overnight re-enactment of trench warfare in the field in Charlwood.

A band of volunteers joined him in dressing up in replica uniforms and used rifles to fire blanks into the countryside during their stint in the trench.



Photographs of Mr Robertshaw's 24-hour stint in the trench are also included in his book, entitled 24 Hour Trench: A Day In The Life Of a Frontline Tommy, which is set in April 1917.



He now hosts open days several times a year and works with local school and historical re–enactment groups. The trench is also used by authors, actors and directors carrying out research for their own First World War projects.

Labour of love: The trench project in Surrey has been such a success that Mr Robertshaw, pictured, will direct a similar project outside Cambridge called 'Lest We Forget' Hard work: Mr Robertshaw said that this year he is inviting people to help dig a trench to show just how long they would have taken to build



Getting involved: Mr Robertshaw pushes the supply cart along the track that lines one side of the Surrey field where the trench has been built

He said that the thing visitors are often struck by is the narrowness of the trench, which is roughly 3ft-wide.



'To pass someone in a trench, you really have to shuffle past them. It was really very cramped.'



He said that the work he does with the trench is particularly significant this year, which marks the centenary of the outbreak of the First World War. But the challenge, once again, is about making sure that life in the trenches is represented and remembered accurately.



He said: 'What I am now fighting is the idea that trenches spring from the ground as soon as the war started.'

At the time, using these crude implements, troops managed to excavate the 450 miles of trench lines, which snaked from the Belgian coast near Nieuport to the Franco–Swiss border at Belfort, in a matter of months.



To try and educate people about how long trenches, which didn't appear until the autumn of 1914, took to build - and the hard work involved - Mr Robertshaw is organising an open day next month.

'I want to get people to have a go building a trench. I want to get people to realise what it was like when the war started.'



The trench has been such a success that Mr Robertshaw is now a director of 'Lest We Forget', a similar project outside Cambridge which will see a series of training trenches built that are 'academically and historically accurate', he said.

