In February 2024, I visited Bletchley Park with my boyfriend. For those who don't know, Bletchley Park is where some of the greatest code-breakers spent their time during WWII and where Alan Turing cracked the Enigma code.
Prior to our visit, we'd watched 'The Imitation Game' and read 'The Rose Code', both of which I'd highly recommend, in order to develop our knowledge of Bletchley and whet our appetite. This meant that by the time we arrived at the site, we had a foundation of knowledge on which to build.
Bletchley Park is located near Milton Keynes and the journey from London was very easy, comprising one direct train. Unfortunately, we missed our first train, but half an hour later we hopped on a different one. We arrived at the compound, which was significantly larger than I'd anticipated and went to the entrance to show our pre-booked tickets. Bletchley is relatively expensive at over £25 per person, however that ticket allows you to access the Park as many times as you'd like within the year, which I hadn't realised on purchase. There were various huts, with the crème de la crème being the beautiful mansion. Nonetheless, we wanted to explore as much as possible so made our way through all of the exhibitions in each building.
Prior to booking my ticket, I had read very mixed reviews about Bletchley Park, including that there wasn't much to see and it being overpriced, and whilst I do think it was expensive compared to most similar venues, I found that there was plenty to explore. There were definitely parts that I was less interested in, such as the National Radio Centre (although the staff there were very passionate about the subject, which was nice to see), however I found myself very engaged in many of the exhibits. For example, I loved the Alan Turing exhibit, and I learnt that when a historical figure is featured on a bank note, the Bank of England gives institutions related to that figure one of the first notes featuring them. In this case, there was a £50 note (featuring Alan Turing) displayed with the serial number 1941, which was the year in which Turing broke the Enigma code, which I found fascinating. There was also a letter from Gordon Brown giving Alan Turing a posthumous royal pardon, which was good to see. I found the exhibits to be fairly interactive, with codes to solve, videos and models of different machinery used and offices worked in. I learnt a lot, including about Lorenz, an even more complex cipher system than Enigma, and the role that carrier pigeons played in the war.
That being said, certain rooms were slightly creepy, with voices emitting from the speakers and machines whirring. As I entered one of the corridors I was suddenly taken back to a corridor in Auschwitz, specifically one in which there are rows and rows of pictures of all the prisoners with shaved heads in identical clothing, perhaps due to the corridor's maze-feel and ominousness.
After spending a few hours looking at the different exhibits, we were starving and luckily, Hut 4 had been converted into a café in which we had lunch. The menu was quintessentially British, though expensive for what it was (similar to school dinners). Nonetheless, it did the job and we then headed to my most anticipated building: the mansion. Although the mansion wasn't the most informative of the buildings, I loved it, especially the gorgeous library. It also overlooked a pond and the sun eventually made an appearance which was lovely.
We spent several hours exploring what Bletchley Park had to offer, and by mid-afternoon I was knackered. I learnt a lot, although I definitely think that consuming media related to the Park beforehand was very helpful and made the trip more exciting. The idea of thousands of men and women working tirelessly during WWII to solve codes and defeat the enemy, with little to no credit given for years to come (and for the young men in Bletchley to be actively looked down upon for not fighting on the front line) is surreal and it's said that their efforts shortened the war by at least two years.
I'd recommend a visit to Bletchley, especially as a day trip from London as it's fascinating to learn about and it's important to honour those who fought for our country, both on the front line and behind the scenes.
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