SWAMBO and I visited this fascinating site in June. We had been there before, but we were headed for the airport, running ahead of time, so I said let’s pop into this Bletchley Park place and kill some time. We ran out of time, loved what we had seen, and resolved to return one day. So earlier this year we did.
If you don’t know, Bletchley Park was the HQ of the Allied code-breaking operation during WW2. It was kept very secret, everything in there was destroyed at the end of the war, and the entire story is only now coming to light. It has been known for many years that Alan Turing did a lot of work there, including the creation of the Bombe machine, an electro mechanical computer, that was used to break the Enigma code that the U-Boats used and which was regarded as being unbreakable.
If you have an interest in computer science or cryptography you could probably wander around and have an interesting time. If you take the guided tour (no extra charge, but only so many tours per day, and only so many per tour) then you will get the fascinating human story of what went on there (to their credit, the guides steer clear of jingoism), and still have plenty of time to roam around afterwards.
EG you could go have a look at Turing’s office, which still has a coffee mug chained to the radiator (one of his eccentricities). EG the working Bombe machine which they have managed to reconstruct.
So very off topic, but if you’re in or are going to the UK, this a fascinating place to visit. Even if you are not so interested in computer science because, as I said, the human side of the story of that place is so interesting.
I got annoyed on this visit to the UK, because too many attractions feel like a very deliberate ripping off of the tourist, but I don’t have Bletchley on the list. That was a truly fascinating day out.