A BOOK detailing what life was like for people living in Wiltshire during the Second World War and in the aftermath of the conflict has been released.

From Blackout to Bungalows looks in detail at every aspect of life during the war from a range of perspectives, including evacuees, air raids, munitions workers, the home guard, propaganda, army camps, fire watching and prisoners of war.

Written by Julie Davies, community history advisor at Wiltshire and Swindon History Centre in Chippenham, the book contains more than 650 pages which were compiled over three years.

“I started it because I did a distant learning course for my librarianship degree where my dissertation took a year to write and I was just looking and evaluating,” said the 43-year-old.

“But I thought there were so many great examples I thought I’d love to let people know about them.”

Mrs Davies has worked at the Wiltshire and Swindon History Centre in Chippenham since it opened in 2007, and lives on Redlands with her husband, Jim, and their two daughters, 14-year-old Gemma, and Abi, aged 12.

The book also contains first-hand accounts from people who were alive during the war, as well as afterwards while the country and Wiltshire were trying to recover.

“I wanted to try and get voices from interviews in there. I spoke to a few people such as an evacuee who told me about his experiences,” added Mrs Davies.

“One of the things that stood out was in the post-war era the housing crisis and how that majorly affected Wiltshire, it was real desperation from people.

“We think we have trouble now but it’s nothing compared to back then.”

Wiltshire publisher Hobnob Press have released the book for £17.95, which is on sale from the Wiltshire and Swindon History Centre, Amazon and online booksellers.