Out & About Summer 2021

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A cracking day out If you are staycationing this summer and looking for ideas for a day trip, then Bletchley Park, the home of the Second World War codebreakers, might just fit the bill. GERALDINE GARDNER and PHIL CANNINGS had a look around to see if they could crack the secret of its success

I n the last few years, the profile of the codebreaker Alan Turing has been raised in the public consciousness. His work alongside his colleagues at Bletchley Park has been immortalised in books, films and, most recently, on the £50 banknote. But what of Bletchley Park, the mansion just south of Milton Keynes where all the codebreaking took place? The house nearly got knocked down in the 1930s after the Lyon family sold it to a devel- oper, but in 1937 it caught the eye of Admiral Sir Hugh Sinclair, head of MI6, who was looking for a location outside London in anticipation of the inevitable war. The rest you might say is history, but

what a rich history it is. The fascination of the World Wars is never-ending and the appeal of a visit to the Bletchley Park site is that you are walking around a place where intelli- gence gathering was key in determining which way the Second World War went and where ordinary, everyday people played an extraordinary part in history. We visited Bletchley on a rather dull, cloudy day, just after the easing of lockdown and the reopening of visitor attractions. There was a steady stream of visitors as we made our way to a rath- er unassuming entrance which belied the huge range of exhibitions and space that the site covers. Pre-Covid, Bletchley Park was attracting around 250,000 visitors a year, they had

great plans for the 75th anniversary of D-Day in 2020 and were looking for- ward to opening up new exhibitions to visitors. Like many attractions they had to put their plans on hold. However, they have still made use of the bunting intend- ed for that 75th anniversary, which is strewn around the main exhibition building and which adds to the nostalgic atmosphere of the place. When you arrive you go into the visitor centre, where a short film gives you a quick overview of the significance of what went on at Bletchley in the context of the war. Elsewhere on the site there is also a 10-minute cinematic experi- ence exploring Bletchley’s secret role in D-Day preparation – and then through to

O&A SUMMER 2021

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