Bletchley Park

 June 4th. Cloudy and cool with the promise of rain.

An unmemorable breakfast at the Milton Keynes Holiday Inn Express and we packed the car to drive to Bletchley Park.  Lady Satnav told is it was 15 minutes away.  You know how much I trust her!  My mistrust has been further deepened.  We drove about 10 minutes when she said turn left and lo and behold there was yet another Road Closed sign.   The sign also said Diversion without indicating where, how or why.   A U Turn in the yard of a huge John Lewis Depot, and several executive decisions made, before Lady Satnav gave up on her fixation with the closed road.   Eventually we made it to Bletchley Village and she was happy to direct us up a windy road and turn us in to a gate controlled entrance with three men in uniform standing in front. 

At this point I had only evil thoughts about Satnavs as I was sure we’d come to some secret Government location and would be subjected to lengthy questioning.   However, their Rishi Sunak look-alike came over and told us “of course you can go in.  It doesn’t require a code you know”.  When I pointed out that the gates were still closed he said “it’s not magic I’ll show you” and waved us through to a very user friendly car park.

We entered at Block C, paid our fee and began a delightful four hours submerged in information and experiences telling the amazing story of The Code Breakers of Bletchley Park. The girl at the counter told us our tickets were valid for multiple trips within 12 months and oh, how I wish we could make multiple trips.  There is so much to see, do and absorb.  It was fascinating.

We started with an exhibition giving general background for the reasons Bletchley Park ever came into existence and of the types of work that were done there.   Highly informative boards and some interactive areas let visitors try listening to Morse code, placing shipping information on the boards which were updated daily and decoding information.  This gave me a huge respect for the women who worked here and the speed at which they processed the information.   It took me 109 seconds to decode three letters!

Bletchley Park, the original estate and home was mentioned in the Domesday Book and was valued at ten hides.   In the 19th century it was bought by the Leon family who held it until 1937 when it was sold.  However in 1938 Admiral Hugh Sinclair, Head of SIS bought the property for the government (but in his own name to maintain the essential secrecy).  The site was selected as it was close to London, Oxford and Cambridge and  had the all important communications cables running alongside the A5 nearby.   Since 1993 it has been a showcase for the war work done there and in 2014 was refurbished into what it is today.

The original work was done in the Mansion but as the numbers of staff grew it was necessary to expand out into the surrounding stables and cottages.  Eventually even those were insufficient and utilitarian wooden and brick buildings were added.   

Staff were billeted with people in the Village - for better for worse.  

There were old typewriters, index boxes, telex machines, punch card machines - indeed machinery of every sort which was used to speed up the process of decoding and thus providing essential intelligence to the Allied Forces.   

In one area a replica of The Bombe machine, made famous by Alan Turing and others in breaking the Enigma codes.   

One room was dedicated to Alan Turing showing his office, books and papers that he’d used.  

Also a Monopoly Board that his friend had hand drawn and on which Turing lost a game of Monopoly, supposedly because of the diagonal line of properties added in across the board.

Both of us had a try at coding and decoding our names.   

We saw the desks where these folk worked in three eight hour shifts and marvelled at the concentration needed to do this.    It must have been cold too in the winter as at several of the desks there were knitted cardigans and at others duffel coats and blankets.   

All in all we spent around four hours here and certainly could have spent more.  The audio visual guide was informative and well narrated.  At The Mansion we were greeted by a friendly man who asked where we were from, which part of UK we liked best, and  did we have Inspector Morse on TV in New Zealand?  When we said yes he told us he used to work in CID in Oxford and had actually met John Thaw who played the role.   

We had lunch in Hut 4, now a cafe and I was able to cross off Egg and  Cress Sandwiches from My List.

Mid afternoon we programmed Lady Satnav with the address of our accommodation in Cambridge and would you believe she tried to get us to go again to. that Closed Road.  We are getting smarter and so with pushes of buttons persuaded her otherwise and commenced the Great Roundabout Trail to Cambridge,  “At the next roundabout take the second exit for…” is imprinted on my memory and will no doubt reverberate in my dreams tonight.  We must have gone through at least thirty roundabouts in one and a half hours.  I acknowledge they are a splendid method of keeping traffic flow at intersections but, some have lights, some have part time lights, some have clear vision through, some have groves of walnut trees planted in the centre, some have faded road lane markings, some are merely a small bump in the road and hardly worthy of the name.

Anyway, with some concern we drove towards Bedford, then towards Baldock, then toward Royston and by this stage I, the navigator, was quite concerned that we weren’t even in the direction of a Cambridge.  When amazingly, on the next road sign appeared the beloved word.  We came in on Chesterton Road, found our hotel on the left, drove into the carpark and were assigned a beautiful room in this Victorian building.  And only then did I notice that we are across the road from the River Cam.

After a reviving cup of tea and some knitting for Little Sister who found her 11th commandment today, 

we strolled across the Jesus Lock Bridge 

to Cote on Bridge Street for a meal that was not Burger and Chips followed by a delicious dessert.  

And now to rest, ready for tomorrow.