Bletchley Park

I've been very remiss when it comes to posting lately, but this can be put down to important events like Harriet's 50th birthday celebrations (and going fishing several times too, of course).

Cambridge Camera Club had a highly enjoyable outing to Bletchley Park last Wednesday, and here are a few of the pictures from that day. It's a fascinating place, and we had an excellent guide for the day - so much so that I spent more time contemplating the history of the establishment than taking photos.

This is Don, our guide, explaining the derivation of the word Bombe, and a couple of close-ups of the amazing electro-mechanical device which was used to help crack the Enigma code.



Since it was a Camera Club outing, there were plenty of homo photographicus specimens to be found around the grounds. Unfortunately we weren't allowed to go inside any of the derelict huts, so these two had to make do with shooting through the window instead. What's great about Bletchley Park is that it's decaying in a rather graceful way, and has managed to avoid being turned into a "theme park". How much longer this will last is debatable, however...



We were allowed to take pictures inside the "mansion", provided we didn't interfere with a conference which was taking place at the same time. The ballroom had a superb ceiling, but unfortunately it was also the location of the conference dinner - hence I had to make do with looking into the room from the doorway.



The final example of homo photographicus (this time with its mate, which is relatively rare) was observed looking for a natural history subject on an otherwise historical trip! The bluebells in question were growing by the side of the lake.