Yahoo Finance Get ready for the apocalypse as nuclear spy base goes on sale
A former nuclear spy base known as the ‘Golf Ball’ is on the market for £950,000 ($1.2m).
The old Royal Air Force (RAF) Balado Bridge airfield was once used to monitor the threat of intercontinental ballistic missiles for NATO during the Cold War.
But now the six-acre site in Tayside in eastern central Scotland is up for sale, marketed by estate agents Amazing Results as the perfect bolthole to survive an apocalypse – and “the ultimate DIY challenge.”
With political turmoil growing across the world, it may appeal to the growing numbers of so-called ‘doomsday preppers,’ who are bracing themselves for calamity by snapping up highly secure, remote or self-sufficient properties.
READ MORE: Why can we plan for apocalypse but not our own death?
The huge, distinctive fibreglass dome around the radar antenna is linked to a corridor “built to withstand a nuclear, biological or chemical attack.”
The rural property also includes a guardhouse, emergency power generator room, diesel tanks, a station mess, office facilities and a double-layered security fence.
The radar system may no longer be able to warn the owner about missiles, but the giant antenna can still be rotated around for anyone looking to channel their inner spy.
The estate agent also points out the site is close to local schools and facilities in the nearby town of Kinross, as well as a short distance from the M90 and under an hour’s drive from Edinburgh.
The former airfield was built during the Second World War to ease the pressure on the better-known Grangemouth site, with Polish pilots reported to have trained there on Hurricanes and Spitfires.
It lay empty for several decades until NATO turned it into a satellite ground listening station, helping to stave off any potential nuclear threat.
But younger generations may know it as the site of the T in the Park music festival, which it hosted until concerns about an oil pipeline beneath the land prompted a change of venue in 2014.
It was described as the “ideal location for a retirement home” when the Daily Mail reported on the property being put on the market in June 2016, just days before the EU referendum.
