I went up and visited Bletchley in around October last year and, until I got there, assumed the NMOC and Bletchley were one and the same. I parked up in the only obvious parking lot and followed the large signs to the entrance like a good little visitor. I paid £15 entry and another fiver for a fancy souvenir book and wondered through the fairly small couple of galleries Bletchley actually has - mainly a handful of Enigmas and a very nice Lorenz, as well as a nicely rebuilt Bombe. They are very much what I call "National Trust" style, which unlike the competing English Heritage organisation, specialise in tours, gift shops and making everything into an experience rather than being passionate about the items themselves.
After ending up outside and wondering where all the computers are, I discovered that most of the buildings on the Bletchley site are privately rented to various companies, there is also a selection or boarded up huts, an open hut full or random Winston Churchill paraphernalia and another on pigeon racing (I kid you not). Finally, after reaching the outer extremes of the site, I find the bletchley house where you can wonder through about 4 fairly bare rooms (the upstairs is rented out) and then, right on the top of the site, the actual Museum of Computing. This is a separate affair not even mentioned on bletchleys map and is well worth a visit, £3 entry and more stuff then Bletchley itself. Proper "English Heritage" style exhibits (piles of stuff and little notices describing it rather than audio tours, tedious guides who just tell you their opinions etc.. There is also a HAM radio station hidden on site, another separate affair. They genuinely look taken aback when you find them and will keep you talking for hours. If I was running NMOC I would make a prompt exit and take Colossus with me. - Alex On Friday, 31 January 2014 00:15:20 UTC, johnk wrote: > > > > > Saw this link elsewhere:- > > http://freelance.halfacree.co.uk/2014/01/disharmony-at-bletchley-park/ > > > > John K. > > -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "neonixie-l" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To post to this group, send an email to [email protected]. To view this discussion on the web, visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/neonixie-l/501f9550-025b-4da0-986d-6f7f4ecdcc15%40googlegroups.com. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out.
