The top secret World War II British spy school

In the heart of the Berkshire countryside sits an elegant country house, best known today as a spa and hotel.

But the 17th Century manor in Finchampstead, near Reading and Wokingham, played a very different role more than 80 years, serving as one of Britain's most secretive wartime training schools.

From 1941, volunteers from across occupied Europe were assessed, tested and trained at Grade II listed West Court for covert missions behind enemy lines. Much of that work remained classified for decades.

Radio Berkshire's Ellie Tutt visited the estate with historian Paul McHugh to find out more about the extraordinary site, from its cellars and concealed rooms to the recruits who passed through.

"From June 1941, West Court became a special training school which was occupied by Britain's wartime Special Operations Executive (SOE), said McHugh, from educational charity Secret World War II Learning Network.

The SOE was a secret organisation formed in 1940 to undertake subversion and sabotage in enemy-occupied territory and train resistance groups in those territories as well, the historian said.

"The role of West Court during the war was to start the preliminary training and paramilitary training of secret agents who were destined to go back to occupied Europe."

The grounds would have looked very different from today.

"There would probably have been an assault course, a shooting range, a range for throwing grenades and possibly a short length of railway line to practise sabotaging and blowing up railways, which was a very important part of an agent's role once they got to occupied Europe," said McHugh.

Training weapons, including submachine guns, pistols and rifles, would have been kept inside concealed rooms that are still in place today, hidden behind steel doors and bookcases, the historian explained.

"We know quite a bit about some of the individual agents who passed through West Court," he said.

"There's a range of them showing on the information board, which is here in the grounds and can be seen by the public.

"David Vanchella, a Dutch national, had been a farmer in Brazil and had undertaken undercover work on behalf of both the SOE and Britain's secret intelligence service MI6 against Nazi organisations in Brazil."

After training in Canada and West Court, Vanchella was dropped into Belgium before carrying on into the Netherlands.

"He survived an air crash on the way in," said McHugh.

"He did manage to get back to Britain with important information and he survived the war."

After the SOE left in 1945, the property returned to private ownership before being taken over by the Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers up until 2015.

During World War Two, it was a secret operational site, with local residents told it was being used for commando training.

McHugh said: "But, of course, because it was again the military [who owned it] for such a long time after World War Two, again the public weren't allowed to know much about it.

"I think it's important that places like West Court are still remembered today, because we need to remember the sacrifices of the people who were our allies in World War Two.

"Some of these men who were here gave their lives, didn't return from active operations, but because they were operating for a secret service then not a great deal was known."