Five reasons to visit Bletchley Park this summer

One of Britain’s most closely guarded wartime secrets, Bletchley Park was made up of huts and blocks where teams of codebreakers worked day and night to decipher enemy communications, most famously the German Enigma code. The work done here had a profound impact on the end of the war, and now, you can explore where it all happened. From the Mansion Library to the wartime offices in the huts, you can visit them all, and pretend you’re part of the wartime intelligence force.

There are loads of interactive displays at Bletchley Park, meaning you’ll be fully  immersed in what the wartime effort was like. Don’t miss ‘D-Day: Interception, Intelligence, Invasion’, a cinematic experience that brings to life Bletchley Park’s crucial role in the lead-up to D-Day, and the ‘Intelligence Factory’ exhibition, which has interactive displays that allow you to try your hand at mapping naval convoys, and even see what it took to keep Bletchley Park running, with 9,000 staff working there.

Okay, maybe that’s a stretch, but it is true that Turing and the Bletchley codebreakers laid the foundations for so much of the tech that we use day-to-day now. See exactly how this happened at the exhibition, ‘The Age of AI’, and explore how the legacy of those wartime innovations continues to shape our world today. 

When it’s time for a lunch break, you can take a break in Hut 4 Café, housed in one of the original wartime buildings. Have a fresh coffee and a slice of cake in the sunshine, as deckchairs pepper the beautifully kept grounds. It’s a great spot to recharge and have a little breather after all that extra brainwork.

Hop on a train at London Euston and you’re at Bletchley Park in less than an hour. Head over for an easy and rewarding escape from London. And it’s just a short stroll from the station, meaning you can bring everyone from kids to grandparents.  
 
Discover one of the most extraordinary stories in British history and crack the code to a great day out this summer. Plan your visit now!