Bletchley Park - Part 2

As well as the main house, there are many other buildings dotted around the grounds. Most of them are large huts which were built and used during the war. Each had a different purpose and were occupied by civilian, RAF and Navy personel. Sadly most of the huts are in a really sad state of repair, but the trust is hoping to raise the money to restore them. On all the huts that are in need of repair, are posters explaining their situation. 

I love them. Such a great idea. :)

There are about 5 or 6 huts that have been restored but only 3 are open to the public. One is used as a lecture/talk room, another as the cafe and the 3rd has been restored to how it would have looked during the war (well most of it has)

This is the cafe, which was was in the old Naval Intelligence hut. In both look, furniture and food it reminded my decidedly of my old prep school dining hall (except the food, which was much better here then at my school). 

I didn't take any pictures of the lecture room hut as it was just an empty room with modern chairs, but I did of the 3rd restored hut. It was either hut 3 or hut 8, I can't completely remember which one it was. Anyway here are some photos of the interior.

This is the codebreaker Alan Turing's office. He was an amazing man who, it is said, shortened the war by 2 years. 

Apparently Turing was paranoid about people stealing his coffee mug, so he chained it to the radiator in his office. (This mug isn't the original one).

Another office was full of what I think are typex machines. I really should have written this post as soon as I came back from Bletchley as my memory is appalling!)

The switch board room with some rather scary mannequins!   

Another room was full of information and artefacts relating to the use of carrier pigeons during the war. This box could hold 2 pigeons.

This one could hold one.

as could this one.

An example of the type of cases that contained messages and were strapped to the leg of a pigeon

More cases

Examples of how the cases were colour-coded.

The sheets the messages were written on. 

A pigeon parachute!!!  

Bletchley Park - Part 1

I have always been fascinated by Bletchley Park. My grandmother was in the WRENs during WW2 working in some capacity with code-breaking and ciphers. She didn't work at Bletchley, but one of her school friends did, and she has often talked about life during the War, which sparked my interest in Bletchley. So last week, when it was half term (one of the perks of working in a school), my father and I decided to go and visit it.

I got a bit happy-snappy so I think I am going to have to split this into two posts. The first will be about Bletchley House. 

This is Bletchley House. I was suprised how small it was, since so many people worked there. Its more like a 19th century upper middle class country house, than a grand mansion on a large estate. 

After the war the house was largely left to fall into disrepair, but thanks to the Bletchley Park Trust (formed in the 1990s) the house is now nearly completely restored. I have to say beautifully restored. Unfortunately, to raise funds to renovated the rest of the Bletchley site, the Trust rent out the rooms for corporate events, so their is ugly modern furniture in every room. However, we were still able to wonder around and see quite a few of the ground floor rooms. 

In the hall facing the front door. I am not sure when the house was built (there didn't seem to be any info about it), but in the 1880s it was bought by a wealthy London financier and his wife, Sir Herbert and Lady Leon, who added a wing to the house in the early 1900s. The house has been restored to how it would have looked during the Leon's time, hence all the Edwardian paneling. 

A corridor which seemed to double as a coat/boot room.

You can see the evidence of it being used for corporate events.

The library. I loved this room. If you ignore the ugly furniture, you can imagine what it might have been like during the Edwardian era. During the war the room was divided into 3 offices. It is a decent size, but not big enough to be split into 3 rooms. They must have been 3 tiny offices!!

The bookshelves are all original, and beautiful.

Once again ignore the ugly table.

Amazing original fireplace

The hall (looking away from the front door)

Sadly the first floor was off limits. :( Apparently the rooms on all the floors, apart from the ground floor, are rented out as office space to businesses.

I can't precisely remember what the original function of this room was, though I have a feeling it was the Drawing Room.

The Ballroom, which was used as a cinema during the War.

Detail of the ceiling

Another room off the main hall, well its more like a covered courtyard then a room

I thought that mainly because of the ceiling

 Looking towards the hall.

The dining room, which had some lovely old photos of the house and the people who worked their.

 Some of the servants at the beginning of 20th century

Carpenters and maids c.1900

Next post: the rest of the Bletchley Estate.

My First Muff

I have always wanted a muff, but I had no idea where I could get one from or how to make one. That was until I came across Katherine C-G's fabulous posts on her blog The Fashionable Past. The first shows you how to make a muff, and the second a cover for said muff. I lost no time in attempting to make one.

Here is the result:

 It is rather simply decorated, but I like it.

The cover is made from silk that I had left over from when I attempted to make a 1910s evening gown for a Titanic ball.  I never finished it as I found it rather hard to make, and the ball sold out before I could buy a ticket. :(

The trim I bought a while ago from a lovely little shop off Regent Street. I can't remember the name, but it is a very unusual place. It is located in the basement of an office building so you have to ring a buzzer at the main door to get in, and then work out which unmarked door leads to the basement!! All a bit bizarre but it is anything but a let down. The place is stuffed full of every kind of trim you could imagine. There were so many things I wanted to buy but I was determined to be good, so only bought the one trim I couldn't not buy. :) I have been saving it to use on something extra special, and thought my first muff was the perfect thing. :)

The lining is the one bit I seriously dislike. In her tutorial Katherine used wool for the base of her muff, which I think is much more historically accurate, but I didn't have any wool in my material stash. I was determined to use material I already had, so I raided my stash, and settled on this rather ugly orange cotton. I am hoping that no one will be able to see it when I have my hands in the muff. 

For anyone who has ever wanted to make a muff I really recommend Katherine's tutorial. :)

Tea at Fortnum's

 I have been absolutely awful at posting recently! I have been blaming it on my laptop, which is slowly but surely giving up, but really I could have used my parents computer. I now have no excuse as I have just bought a new laptop, not as pretty as my last (which was pink :) ) but hopefully better built and less prone to breaking!

Anyway, my birthday was at the beginning of November, and regular readers of this blog might remember that every year, on or around my Birthday, I drag my family to a hotel for tea. Last year we were visiting my sister in Argentina, so we had a slightly less traditional, but just as delicious, tea than usual. This year, well actually last year, it was back to working my way round the hotels of London. I actually ended up choosing a department store - Fortnum and Mason's.

The spiral staircase in the centre of the store

We had tea in what was originally called the Parlour, but last year they changed it to something like the Queen's Sitting Room, or Queen Elizabeth II restaurant (I can't completely remember the name!!), because of the Jubilee. Anyway, the name is not important, the food however is another matter entirely!! :)

And so on to the important bit. Yummy food. :) 

Like most tearooms, the first foods to be brought to the table were sandwiches, scones and cakes (well I say cakes, they were more like pastries). The food was good, especially the scones, and the delicious strawberry jam, but the pastries were a little strange. I think that they were good, but just really weren't to my taste (lots of dark chocolate), as my mother thoroughly enjoyed them.

The staff refilled the plates until you stopped them, so by the time we finished we were feeling rather full.

But we were then asked if we would like a piece of cake!!!! Even though we were fit to bursting, we had to try a piece of cake. :)

This is my piece, I think it was a kind of orange cheese cake. It's silly that I can't remember, but I suppose it was over 2 months ago. However, I do remember that it was delicious. :)

Now a few photos of the china etc.

I loved the art deco style tea strainers. 

I thought I would be adventurous and try tea that I had never heard of before. So I picked a black tea called Monkey something! It had the strangest name, which is why I chose it. :) However, it turns out that I am incredibly fussy about what tea I drink, I hated it! So I ended up being thoroughly boring and ordering pot of delicious Earl Grey! :)

The teapots had a lovely oriental design on them.

This photo should really be at the beginning of the post, as it is the foyer/reception of the restaurant, but I can't be bothered to move it. In the background you can see the pianist, who played beautifully non-stop the entire time we were there (about 3 1/2 hours!!). Her hands must have seriously ached by the end!

After tea we went to the Christmas department, which is a must for anyone who visits the store during November and December. :)

We took the old staircase to get to the right floor. They are so much more elegant then the new ones (seen in the first photo), and were gorgeously decorated. :)

Looking down from the 4th floor. So pretty :)

Fortnum's also has the most amazing Christmas window displays every year. Unfortunately we were just a bit too early to see them as it was the beginning of November, and the windows were all covered with sheets. But if you are ever in London over Christmas I highly recommend swinging past Fortnums's to have a look. :)