G & J away from home

Friday, 8 July 2016

We've been meaning to go to Bletchley Park for the last couple of visits to the UK but for some reason we haven't managed it before.  So today was the day - a drive across-country from Chester to Milton Keynes, a tour of the ridiculous number of roundabouts on the Milton Keynes ring-road, and so to visit the home of the UK's war-time code-breaking.

I just can't say enough about the place and would recommend anybody with the least interest in history to visit.  We weren't off to a good start when I struggled to find my way from the car park to the entrance (apparently the signs were in a code I couldn't break as I headed off in quite the wrong direction) but after that the place was magic.  Well, after we got our tickets (and all tickets are season tickets which last for a year) and stopped at the little cafe for lunch.

Once we were properly fed and could give our attention to other things we worked our way through the brilliant introductory display (though the video was a bit sad).  The display was quite interactive though not make so kid-friendly that the adults (me at least) had any qualms about trying everything out.

Non-commercial photography is allowed at Bletchley Park and that automatically (and considerably) improves my opinion of any place we visit.  Sadly my skills at taking photos in the low light of the initial display were pretty poor and this was the only one worth sharing:

Japanese language cards

The code-breakers (and/or those who interpreted what was decoded) needed to know the languages the codes were written in and the box shown above were their notes for their work with Japanese codes.

As we left the entry area (in Block C) we were given a hand-held multimedia device - a little touch screen and a headset - which then guided up around the grounds, allowing us to listen and watch video explaining not only the buildings and places, but watching interviews with people who had worked at BP recalling their memories of each place, and also commentary on the war and how information from BP affected the outcomes, as well as biographies of some of the people who worked in each area.

Almost immediately, while were both distracted by the miles of information coming our way, Gary and I went off in different directions.  He went into the first building (Block B) and I went on to tour all the locations.

Looking across the lake with the Mansion in the background

While I was dawdling around the grounds, finding out what each building had been used for and being thrilled to see that they had excavated the foundations of some of the long-removed huts so they could show the outline of them in the grass (take note, Chester, how valued these 70-year-old 'ruins' are) and Gary was busy checking out all Block B had to offer, time was passing.  Eventually I realised I probably wasn't even going to be able to get around the whole tour of the grounds listening to and reading all of the information provided and Gary realised he had only seen one building.  We did meet up, him to tell me I absolutely must visit Block B where the massive Bombe calculating machine was on display, and me telling him how great all the information on the tour of the grounds was, but mainly we realised in then that there was no way we would get everything done before we left.

Valuable Tip: With any interest in the history of the place you would need to plan to be there all day, or use that season ticket and visit a number of times.

The Mansion (Photo: Gary)

Although there wasn't much time left I did get into Block B to see the Bombe and the Alan Turing statue (both things I had wanted to see) but from Gary's photos it appears there was a lot I missed!

Alan Turn statue in slate

The (exceedingly noisy) working replica of the Bombe:

The Bombe

The Bombe, like much of Bletchley Park's history, has had to be reconstructed as the security was so high that at the end of the war everything was destroyed - the machines, the plans, all the papers, etc.  And, apart from in the very early months, no photos were taken of the place or the people.  Understandable from a contemporary point of view, but sad from a historical perspective.

Old photo showing Block B and many of the huts on BP

At its height 10,000 people worked at Bletchley Park, none of them able to talk about their work (even to each other) and many of them never telling their families about what they did there either at the time or in later years.


Gary's lightning tour while I was in Block B produced some photos of places I'm disappointed that I never got to:

The pub? (Photo: Gary)

Hut 1 (Photo: Gary)

Working conditions in the huts (Photo: Gary)

As we dashed out to head on our way to David and Sharon's at Bengeo  I did a quick circuit of the shop - always a highlight for me at any place we visit, most often because they have a range of books on their particular subject that are the sorts of books you don't know exist - and took some photos of books I would like to read.  I take photos so when I have a minute I can buy the ebook and I buy the ebook in preference to the 'real' book because I don't want physical books to bulk out my bag to breaking point, I prefer ebooks that I can read on the Kindle and then keep without filling up my limited 'real book' shelves at home.

One of the books to buy as ebooks

Saving Bletchley Park (above) was an excellent account of both finding funding to keep BP going and using social media to raise the profile of the place.  One of the results of the social media contacts made during the campaign to '#savebp' was Google's sponsorship of the Park and their funding which enabled the Turing papers to be purchased.

Google's relationship with Bletchley Park

All in all an excellent site but worth a full day or a number of visits to do it justice so 'visit Bletchley Park' remains on our list of Things To Do.

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