The abandoned UK ‘battle area’ you can only enter with written military permission after locals left en-masse

AN ABANDONED area in the UK can only be entered with special permission from the military.

Stanford is a deserted village in Norfolk where the sitcom classic Dad’s Army was filmed.

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It’s deserted because the Stanford Training Area (STANTA), as it is formally known, is an Army training area south west of Norwich.

The town of Stanford was taken over by the military during World War Two and remains an infantry training area today.

When the Army took over the site in 1942 a mock German village was built to train soldiers, which included for the D-Day invasion.

In 2009 another area was added to train troops for fighting in Afghanistan.

The buildings inside the area include four churches, an airstrip, a market, a mosque, and systems that pump out rotten meat and sewage smells.

The churches are fitted with blast-proof sheeting to try and protect them from military manoeuvres.

Army cadets use the area for field craft exercises while the 16 Air Assault Brigade hold their annual Gryphon exercises there, including with live ammunition.

As it is a controlled military environment, only restricted entry is allowed.

But, the Army also allows former residents or relatives of former residents to visit on compassionate grounds.

Tours also sporadically travel through the village.

Some people like to tour the village as the military site has well preserved nature that has flora and fauna which doesn’t exist elsewhere.

The other abandoned villages are Buckenham Tofts, Langford, West Tofts, Surston, and Tottington.

Dad’s Army – which followed the exploits of the home guard during WWII – ran for nine series between 1968 and 1977.

It became one of the most popular sitcoms in Britain, regularly attracting audiences of 18 million.

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