Bletchley Park and a very posh afternoon tea!

I had another, quite early start today, as I was going to Bletchley Park with my friends Lynda, Fiona and Andrea. I had offered to drive so I collected Andrea first and then headed off to get Fiona from her home in the middle of the town. We finished up at Lynda's and I decided to take the M1 as I had directions from Junction 14.

The weather was a bit disappointing as it was grey and drizzly but the forecasters had promised it would clear up. I had, of course, lent my mac to my Mum as her concert was an outdoor one, but I had faith in the forecast so didn't take an umbrella with me!

The directions I'd printed out proved useless so we had to rely on Google Maps on Andrea's phone. This took us straight to the door which was great. Bletchley Park opens at 9.30am and we arrived just after opening time so we had no problems parking at all. First up was a coffee and then we plunged straight in.

The set-up is very good and there were lots of interactive games where you could try your hand at deciphering codes. I put headphones on and listed to radio static before I could detect morse code. This was then broken down into letters before being de-coded by the army of workers. At one point 9000 people worked at Bletchley Park covering three eight-hour shifts.

We had a good look at the first exhibition and then moved outside to the grounds of the house. Most of the work was done in pre-fabricated huts known only by their number. As you can imagine it was all top secret.

Luckily the rain had stopped but it was still cloudy and overcast. We wandered by the lake and went into the house itself which housed a couple of offices and a film-set from the movie "The Imitation Game" starring Keira Knightley and Benedict Cumberbatch and which was about Alan Turing who was one of the people to invent the "Bombe" a mechanical machine for breaking down the enemy codes.

The house itself is beautiful and has some gorgeous wood-panelling and decorative ceilings. It was bought in 1938 by Admiral Sir Hugh Sinclair who was head of the Secret Intelligence Service.

From the house we visited several huts and saw rooms set up to look how they would have done when the code-breakers were working there. They were very dimly lit and all had black-out blinds at the windows. Later, one of the guides said this was nonsense as the people working there would have needed very good lighting to see what they were doing!

In some of the huts were several games where you could try your hand at breaking the codes. It was all very complicated to me although I did have some success with the "Bombe" which was operated continually by an army of Wrens. The room would have been noisy and hot and working through the night must have been horrible!

We finished up in a building housing the Bombe rebuild where a helpful guide attempted to explain what the machine was doing. By now I was a little hot and tired and becoming quite hungry! I sat outside with Lynda and called Sophie who was also bored stuck at home. I urged her to make some muffins, which she did!

Andrea and Fiona eventually emerged from the building and we took our little information headsets back and drove over to Woburn for our afternoon tea. It didn't take us long to get there and we were able to park in the large car park on the outskirts of the village. Needless to say, the place was busy and we strolled along the high street which seems to have been taken over by tea-rooms and posh pubs.

The girls wanted a drink so we trooped into The Old Ale House where they ordered a glass of wine each and I settled for a bottle of sparkling water. The bill came to an astounding £24! At the table we sat and watched Serena Williams and sorted out the money for the forthcoming afternoon tea. The girls also gave me a fiver each for my diesel so that was a help!

At 3.30pm we set off for the Woburn Coffee House for our "Celebration" afternoon tea. We were seated in the Orangery but on reflection I would have preferred to have sat right at the front of the restaurant where it was cosier and quieter. Behind us was a Hen Party and the chattering from the 100% female diners was tremendous!

We started off with a bottle of Prosecco (what else?) and then we were treated to some delicious savouries. This was followed by the tea stand on which were more savoury dishes and then scones and cakes.

This is what we enjoyed:

Chicken and chorizo skewer in a cornet of rocket 
with a roasted garlic and paprika aioli 
  
Maple glazed pan fried halloumi with red pepper on a bed of mango salsa

Potted crab infused with spring onion and lime with a saffron butter
~
Summer festival arancini with passata

Quails Scotch egg on a bed of pea purée nestled in a dainty Yorkshire pudding

Tomato and basil muffin tricolore finished with a salsa verde

Hot smoked salmon salad with candy beetroot dressed 
in a horseradish crème fraîche 
~
White chocolate scones infused with lavender 
Served with strawberry preserve and clotted cream
~
Lemon and poppy seed Opera Cake topped with a dark chocolate mirror glaze 
Pistachio rose meringue with raspberry and rose crème chantilly
~
Vanilla cheesecake finished with a balsamic strawberry glaze
Mango and satsuma filo tart with vanilla Cointreau crème pâtissière
~
Mojito lime mousse with mint genoise sponge
Peach melba marshmallow semi coated in white chocolate and sprinkled 
with freeze dried raspberries 

Mojito Mousses

It certainly wasn't the usual afternoon tea of sandwiches, cakes and scones and the attention to detail was tremendous. Everything was delicious and it was a visual feast for the eye. We ordered tea (Earl Grey and English Breakfast) which kept on coming and we could have ordered as much as we wanted.

It was lovely but I'm not sure I'll be back. £34.95 is a lot for a tea and of course, the bottle of Prosecco was extra so it cost us £45 each. For that we could have had a three course meal, drinks and several bottles of wine. It was obviously a very popular place and is only open at weekends with booking essential. The rooms are decorated beautifully with the emphasis on very feminine touches such as flowers, crystal, silver and china. We only saw one man the whole time we were there and it's definitely the place to go for baby showers and hen parties. We had a lovely time and had a good chat and were there for about two hours and it was a nice way to spend the afternoon after visiting Bletchley Park.

It was soon all gone!

Lynda and Fiona

A little treat I took home for Sophie

We left Woburn at about 6pm and took the M1 home. Unfortunately there was a jam at Junction 15 and I ended up going through Grange Park, a large housing estate, and I got completely lost! Luckily Google Maps helped us out again and soon I was bidding farewell to my friends and heading home, much to Sophie's relief. She met me at the door and was delighted with her little chocolate.

We all caught up around the table in the conservatory and rather than watch television, we played cards until 11pm which was great!