A couple who built a summerhouse as a retreat have been told to pull it down - because it is too near an RAF bomb dump.

George and Deidre Dudley wanted peace and quiet from the RAF planes constantly passing over their home.

A small wooden chalet, complete with verandah, in a wood on their 300-acre farm, away from the flight path, seemed the ideal solution.

But now they have been told to demolish it - because it is within the danger zone of the underground explosives store at RAF Brize Norton.

Council officers say the summerhouse was put up without planning permission - and Ministry of Defence officials say it breaches security.

The couple admitted today they had been wrong to put up the building.

Mr Dudley said: "We put it up a year ago and I suppose we don't have any option now but to pull it down. We wanted it as a retreat because our house is very near the flight path at Brize Norton.

"Looking back on it, it might have been better to have asked for planning permission. We're up against the Ministry."

The couple run Dudley's American Motor Homes at Aston Road, Ducklington. Their home, off Station Road, Bampton, borders the west Oxfordshire airbase.

West Oxfordshire planners are about to issue them with an enforcement notice ordering them to demolish the 20ft by 15 ft summerhouse within three months.

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