Today’s post is 1375 words, 30 photos, a 7 minute read. Enjoy!
Hi everyone,
This week I’ll take you to Bletchley Park in Milton Keynes, UK. This is the place where codebreakers worked day and night for years to reveal the battle plans of the Germans during World War II. I’m a fan of historical fiction. When I read Kate Quinn’s book The Rose Code, I vowed to visit Bletchley Park where the characters toiled in secrecy. Keep reading to learn more about this amazing and historical place.
We went to Bletchley Park after our seven day, 50 mile walk in the Cotswolds. If you missed that eight part series about the walk, click here, here, here, here, here, here, here, and here.
The Trail to Bletchley Park
As I mentioned last week, we were lodged at the Redesdale Arms Hotel in Moreton-in-Marsh. We were up early to finish packing our walking gear and be ready for the next phase of our trip. After the wonderful breakfast at the Redesdale, we met Steve, the driver, who would take us to Bletchley Park. Steve is the same fellow who picked us in Bath and dropped us at this hotel the week before. Since our time was short, we opted to have Steve drive us to Bletchely Park rather than take public transportation. 
The 1.25 hour drive through the English countryside was uneventful. When we reached in the city of Milton Keynes we went to the place where we could store our luggage for the day. It was a hotel and advertised this service online but the employees on duty didn’t seem to know anything about it. Finally, with our luggage secure, Steve dropped us at the entrance Bletchley Park and bid us farewell.
Bletchley Park
We’d pre purchased entry tickets for 10:20 AM, we stayed until 4:30 PM. There was a lot to see in this sprawling compound now a national heritage attraction in the UK. Tickets for adults are £26.00 (~$35.00 USD), for seniors £23.50 (~$32.00 USD). There is also a 10% savings by purchasing online in advance.
Bletchley Park, in the city of Milton Keynes, is the site of the Allies codebreaking operation during World War II. Once a country estate, it was purchased in secret by MI6 (British foreign intelligence) in 1938 in the event of a war with Germany. Physically, the property was close to the railway station and main roads from London. The small initial group of codebreakers were able to break some of the early messages being sent by the Germans and intercepted by France and Britain.
As the war began and the need for workers increased, the recruitment of linguists, college professors, mathematicians, chess champions, people who completed crossword puzzles, and others who had lateral thinking skills. They also needed typists, clerical and administrative staff. At its peak, almost 9000 (75% women) people were working 24/7 at Bletchley Park. With that growth, many buildings were added to accommodate the workers in addition to the original Mansion, garages, gatehouse, and chauffeurs hut.
Most of the workers lived off the grounds usually in private homes that were commandeered for the war effort. There wasn’t a lot of time for socialization as work hours were long, up to 16 hours a day. However, there were some romantic liaisons among the workers. Here is a commentary of one of the workers.
All the workers had to sign off on the Official Secrets Act and were cautioned not to reveal what they work they did or even where they worked. The codebreaking was highly compartmentalized to avoid detection by the enemy. Signs like this were common. Did they occasionally slip up? Yes but it was rare.
Upon entry, visitors are directed to an area that introduces them to the work carried out at Bletchley Park. It was very well done and included several short videos.
After signing up for a free one-hour tour, we exited the Visitor Centre onto the compact grounds. We passed Block B that housed offices for the codebreakers. It now is the site Museum. Next we noted the large pond where workers went to relax on their lunch break or between shifts.
This is The Mansion, where the first offices and library were housed. It was quite impressive outside and inside with wood paneling.
The US also had some personnel stationed at Bletchley Park to help gather intelligence for the war effort.
The Guided Tour
Meet Tony, the volunteer guide that led our tour. We spent the first 15 minutes in the Chauffeur’s Hut where Tony brought history to life. He explained the process used to break the German codes that they, the Germans, thought unbreakable. They were wrong. He took us through The Mansion pointing out some additional details that we missed on our earlier walk through.
Tony walked us around to the garages where the cars that ferried encrypted messages back to London. He took us past the stable yards where much of the mechanical work was done on some of the code breaking machines. We passed Huts 11, 11A, 3, 6, and 1. The huts were hastily built, cold in the winter, hot in the summer. There were no windows to allow passersby to see what was going on in a particular hut. An example of what the various huts did, Hut 1 was at one time a wireless station then later home to a Bombe. Hut 3 housed intelligence officers for the Army and Air Force. 
We enjoyed our time with Tony. I thought he looked a lot like Garrison Keillor storyteller, radio personality, and author. 
After the tour, we adjourned to Hut 4 that is now the cafeteria for visitors. 
After lunch, we went to Hut 11 where the Bombe was located. This electro-mechanical device was used to decipher the messages created and sent by the German Enigma. The Bombe was like several Enigma machines hooked together. While the first Enigmas had three rotors subsequent models had four then five rotors creating encrypted code. The more rotors the harder it was to break the code. Ok, it’s way more complicated than I will explain here. There was calculus involved, way above my pay grade. Trust me it was revolutionary and the beginning of machine computing.
There was an exhibit about Bletchley Park’s role in the planning of the D-Day Invasion. Interestingly, the folks working the the invasion didn’t know they played a part until after June 6, 1944.
These two fellows played a key role in planning D-Day. The exhibit was very well done and interesting.
The final exhibit we took in was The Age of AI that explores the impact of AI on our daily lives. It was fun and scary at the same time.
Final Thoughts
We really enjoyed our time at Bletchley Park. It certainly was worth the expense and hassle getting there. It wasn’t until the 1970s that the British Government acknowledged the work done for the war effort at Bletchley Park. Most of those who worked there never told their families what they did during the war. Some died before the secret was revealed. It wasn’t until the early 1990s that the Bletchley Park trust was formed to preserve what was left of the site.
It was 4:30 PM when we called for an Uber to take us back to the hotel where we left our bags. Enroute, we looked for an Uber that would drive us the 30 miles to the Heathrow Airport area. We quickly found one and were soon on our way. The driver, originally from Romania, was happy because he had a good fair for the evening.
The next morning we took the shuttle from the hotel to Heathrow and headed back home. 
The Five Senses Plus One.
See – road signs, road kill, walkers starting their walk, Bletchley Park, Hilton Hotel, two Uber drivers, swans
Hear – accents of two Uber drivers, road noise, quiet at breakfast, spinning dials, war planes, gun fire at Bletchley Park, jets coming into Heathrow
Taste – french toast with clotted cream, avocado toast, carrot cake, curry, beer, cider
Smell – burning rubber on the highway, hotel room smell
Touch – interactive displays at Bletchley Park, car doors, suitcase
What we learned – how important Bletchley Park was to the war effort, how discoveries at BP laid the groundwork for modern computing and AI, they couldn’t talk about their work, importance of Alan Turing’s work, how Poland contributed to breaking the German code, it wasn’t just one person that made a difference, 75% of the workforce were women
Join me next week for a new series of posts.
Until then, happy travels!
Tom
PS: Click here for a link to the post about my book “Farm Boy.” Contact me if you are interested in purchasing a copy. Thanks to all have plunked down your hard earned dollars and read the book. TM