THE OUTPOST
WITHOUT NAZI ZOMBIES!
The Safe Zone at The Outpost has got to be the safest Safe
Zone on any airsoft site, buried as it is in an ex-Nuclear
Bunker, under a hill in the Staffordshire countryside!
F
irst & Only Airsoft is wellknown for the variety of
sites it offers around the
UK. None, however, is more
unusual than The Outpost.
The Outpost is situated in (and
on) The Drakelow Tunnels, a former
underground complex built during the
Second World War to manufacture
aeroplane engines and then upgraded
in the 1980s to become a Regional
Government HQ. The tunnels
were fairly recently (1993)
decommissioned and sold into
private ownership and, although
they were not sealed for a while
and were subject to a measure
of vandalism, the result is an
atmosphere of cold, quiet, dark
desolation.
Four parallel tunnels make up
the main playing area, separated by
a series of inter-connecting crosstunnels and rooms. Some of these
rooms still contain equipment used
by the former incumbents, such as
the kitchens, an old BT exchange and
a complete BBC broadcast studio.
Transcripts pinned to the studio wall
make chilling reading, containing
details of the required broadcasts in
the event of war. To further enhance
the experience, rat-runs and crawl
holes have been knocked through
some of the internal brick walls (great
for ‘sneaky-beaky’ stuff).
The sandstone tunnels run for around
three and a half miles and where there
are no lights it is not just dark, it is can’tsee-your-hand-in-front-of-your-face dark.
Torches are a must – along with a good
sense of direction.
062
October 2011