The Isle of Wight test facility is free to visit, it's worth a look if you're in the area. There isn't a massive amount left - just the concrete structure and a lot of rabbits grazing the cliffs below.
However, there's enough left to make you slightly sad that the space race didn't end up in colonisation (yet). There are also a bunch of other features within less than a mile (an old military battery, The Needles, great views over The Solent, the colored sands of Alum Bay). Definitely underrated.
I was at the New Battery [0] in 2014 and they had tried to recreate the control room in the bunker with panels and equipment and figures made out of corrugated brown cardboard, which seemed terribly low budget and yet somehow quite appropriate to the setting.
I've been to the batteries and I have absolutely no recollection of hearing of this bit of history. Perhaps I was too taken in by the landscape. Underrated indeed, a second visit is in order!
Agreed, its a good place to explore! I live on the Isle of Wight, its full of interesting historical places. I'd like to discover the Nuclear bunker but yet to find it!
I used to actually work in radar on the Isle of Wight, lots of people think of it as simply a place for tourists and old people. However, at least to recently, its the home of a lot of the worlds greatest radar and antenna designers. Sadly its all in decline now.
However, there's enough left to make you slightly sad that the space race didn't end up in colonisation (yet). There are also a bunch of other features within less than a mile (an old military battery, The Needles, great views over The Solent, the colored sands of Alum Bay). Definitely underrated.