Former evacuees were given the chance to visit their wartime home to see how it has been transformed into a luxury housing estate.

The group was evacuated during Second World War to a camp at Wrens Warren in the Ashdown Forest which has been converted from a collection of wooden huts to seven country homes, starting from £1.35 million each.

Hundreds of children from areas all over England, which were deemed at risk from the onslaught of the German Luftwaffe, were sent to the area during the war.

There then stood a dormitory surrounded by huts for the youngsters which was believed to be a safe haven away from the falling bombs.

Some of them were invited to return and take a look at how their modest accommodation has become an exclusive estate.

Doreen Baldwin, 73, remembered being brought to the warren near Forest Row in May 1940.

She said: "I don't think the implications of it registered at first. All I know is that I was homesick.

"My brother came and said everyone was out enjoying themselves and I was wasting my time being homesick.

"Outside they were playing a game. I came out to play and after that, for the three and a half years I was there, I was never homesick."

Mrs Baldwin, who now lives in Rochester, Kent, said she used to play in the forest, which is also famous for being the home of Winnie the Pooh.

Another evacuee, John Bell, 73, who now lives near Reading, recalled spending all night in the air raid shelters and hearing the sound of machine guns.

He said: "We were in the shelter all night.

"When we came out in the morning we were told to go to the dining hall but, as we were going out, we heard the whirl of two bombs.

"They didn't explode. They just hit the ground but I remember diving for cover in the rockery."

Both Mrs Baldwin and Mr Bell said the warren had changed a great deal but they were impressed by the houses, which include wine cellars, a gymnasium and a lift.

It took four years and six months for developers Millwood to go from conception to construction.