Bletchley Park

Enjoy a fascinating day out with the family at Bletchley Park in Buckinghamshire. Until recently one of Britain’s best-kept secrets, this vibrant heritage attraction preserves the vital story of the codebreakers in WW2.

There is something for all the family, from young children to grandparents. Learn about the crucial role Bletchley Park played in the World War Two, where the Government Code and Cypher School and members of MI6, together with scholars turned codebreakers, worked out and developed ways to help the Allied Forces crack ciphers and military codes that secured enemy nations’ communications.

Vital intelligence was produced ahead of military operations and the activities that went on here during WW2 were critical to Britain’s national security and ultimate victory. The best known of the cipher systems broken at Bletchley Park was the Enigma.

As you explore the huts and blocks, listen to the atmospheric soundscapes that play snippets of conversation, music and laughter and hear the noise of steam trains and bicycle bells that evoke how life would have sounded during WW2. Block A houses new exhibition The Intelligence Factory, focusing on Bletchley Park’s wartime operations from 1942 to 1945.

Families can look forward to hands-on displays, immersive films, interactives and a fun multimedia family tour (tours are subject to availability). Top Secret Mission Packs are available at Admissions for a small extra charge. Young adventurers can then stamp their official identity cards at the gate, sign the Official Secrets Act in the Mansion, join in codebreaking in Hut 6 and more. There are regular family events, especially in school holidays.

The landscape has been put back to how it looked at that time and even the tennis courts have been returned to grass, as they would have been in 1940-41. There is lots of space for running around and an outdoor playground.

Don’t miss the National Radio Centre exhibition, which operates independently of the Bletchley Park Trust. This traces the development of radio communications from their beginning to today. See a rebuild of Colossus, the world’s first electronic computer in the National Museum of Computing, an independent museum that traces the development of the computer up to today’s modern versions.

Please see Bletchley Park’s website for more information and to book tickets.