Bletchley Park Trust

There are so many things to do in this tremendously significant and historical place.
The Bletchley Park grounds is comprised of a beautiful lake (with its only residents being the swans and ducks), jade colored green grass, the iconic Mansion where many of the important intelligence work was done during WWII, and spread out on the rest of the grounds were individual huts where thousands occupied and contributed to the code breaking efforts of WWII. Bletchley Park is loosely organized into sections which recounted the lives of the code breakers and the supporting staff, the important people and process of code breaking (everything from the Enigma to the Lorenzo), as well as other significant accounts about general intelligence and their efforts on winning the war.
Here is where you learn about the thousands of brilliant minds brought together: mathematicians, statisticians, linguists, master chess players. A place of tranquility now ideally located between Oxford and Cambridge university, it is almost hard to imagine the monumental work that contributed greatly to ally’s victory during the war. Having watched the Imitation Game film, visiting the actual Bletchley Park made the story even more real. The amount of incredible creativity and innovation happened here was tremendous. The National Museum of Computing next door hosts a rebuild of the first of the ‘modern’ computers — Colossus.

Bletchley Park is a short day trip outside of London (75 minutes). Plan on spending at least a half day there. I felt a bit rushed on my 3 hour visit.
Bletchley is a fascinating place. As a museum, it is one of the top one or two I have visited in the world. It is full of interactive exhibits, historic films and interviews, and remarkable artifacts. This makes it great for young and old alike. The setting is quintessentially English with a manor house, lake, beautiful green ways, all set in the English countryside. (A small word of warning here. Bletchley Park is now inside an industrial park. Don’t let this disappoint you! It’s beautiful!) Yet it is equally Spartan too. The various intelligence «huts» are carefully recreated and give you a first hand sense of how cramped and uncomfortable daily life at Bletchley would have been for the men and women who worked there.
Get out of London for the day and take the train or a car to this amazing gem!

What a great day trip out of London! So worth it!
I took the train from Euston, which at off-​peak hours was 15.90. Since we took National Rail, we got our tickets at BP as two for one! That was awesome.
We started in the intro exhibit which gave a nice overview of the park, headed to the mansion, took a look at some huts, and then took the guided tour. Our last stop was looking at the recreated Bombe machine.
My favorite parts of Blechley:
1. Great and friendly staff/​volunteers.
2. Really gorgeous site. It is honestly so pretty and scenic. It has a lake and some of the buildings, like the mansion and garage, are just striking.
3. The cafeteria was delicious! I got a veggie fritatta with peas and baked beans for 7.95 and it was a huge portion of food. They also had fish and chips, soup, lots of snacks.
4. The huts had fun interactive games to learn about code breaking.
5. The guided walking tour was really helpful to pull all the history together.
6. There’s an Imitation Game exhibit about the film that has info from filmmakers, actors, staff at BP.
7. Seeing the real working Bombe with a demo from a cool volunteer.
8. Learning more about Alan Turing’s life.
9. So easy (about a 5 min walk) from the Blechley train station to BP.
10. Hilarious historical reenactment videos in some of the huts.
One other cool thing: your ticket is good for a whole year so you can return for free.
Some of the code breaking comprehension was a little challenging so I think I’m going to have to do some further reading, but it was honestly just so engaging, the whole place. VISIT NOW!

Visited this historical landmark during the Summer of 2011. There is so much to learn and see here and I thoroughly enjoyed touring through this code-​breaking mecca of a tiny town. Lunch is available at one of the trailers/​buildings so you don’t have to worry about going hungry while touring this place. Additionally, I had the opportunity to tour Bletchley with my intelligence professor, Dr. Martland of Pembroke Cambridge, as a tour guide — how awesome is that?!

This review is for all the girlfriends of WWII and/​or computing fanatics who are skeptical about spending a day out at Bletchley. Don’t fret! Bletchley Park will be more interesting than you expected, I promise.
My fella had been for a tour around Bletchley Park about five years ago and enjoyed it enough to request a return visit with me in tow. He was pleasantly surprised to discover that the location looks much different than it did the last time he visited… so if you’ve been here before and think you know it all already, it might be worth a second visit. The volunteers and other enthusiasts have been hard at work restoring buildings and improving the grounds. There is plenty to do here to spend an entire day… from visiting the mansion to learning about cracking the engima machines, to a walk around a lovely pond, the National Museum of Computing, the Churchhill Collection, toys and memorabilia collection, amateur radio association, and lots more. This is not a polished museum with lots of money. However, it is charming, informative, and very clearly a labor of love for the people who work there and volunteer their time. Important work was done in Bletchley Park and it’s worthwhile to go and appreciate it. I especially recommend a free tour if you have the time. it can be a bit long and a bit dry at times, but it really does leave you with the spirit of what went on there. For our tickets, we got a season pass for the year, and we do plan on going back in a few months to visit the areas we missed the first time around.

In recent years, Bletchley Park has been getting more attention, which it richly deserves. I visited a number of years ago – I think in 2005 – when I was visiting a friend in Milton Keynes who actually lived in Bletchley. «Is that Bletchley as in Bletchley Park?» I inquired. As a programmer and someone with an interest in cryptography I was familiar with the name, but had no idea where it was located. It turned out to be just a 10 minute walk away, and so I went to visit.
At the time, Bletchley Park tours were given by a handful of dedicated elderly people. I believe they were volunteers. Their passion for the site was evident and contagious. It was a warm day and that made an extended walk around the grounds a delight. I must confess that I did enjoy the fact that there were hardly any other visitors, but it’s probably good for Bletchley Park if this is no longer the case. I believe that they have also renovated the Victorian mansion on the site and made it available for conferences.
The visit culminated with an opportunity to see some of the machines which were used during the war. I had already seen an Enigma machine, but this was the first opportunity to view the codebreaking side. At that time there was just Colossus, but I believe they have since reconstructed Bombe.
Bletchley Park is a wonderful way to become acquainted with cryptography and its role in WWII. There are games which you can play (aimed at children, but adults can try them too!) which allow you to really understand how it was accomplished. Combine with Simon Singh’s ‘Code Book’ for optimum results (there’s a children’s edition of this book as well).
The people at Bletchley Park are very interested in preserving the site and reaching out to visitors. You can find them on Twitter as @bletchleypark.