February 4, 2025 • 22 mins
In episode 135 of the UK Travel Planning Podcast, join host Tracy and Doug as they delve into the fascinating world of World War II sites in London and its surroundings. With numerous inquiries from travellers, they share their insights into the most notable locations to include in your itinerary if you're a history enthusiast.
The episode starts with a discussion on London's three major World War II sites: the Imperial War Museum, the Churchill War Rooms, and HMS Belfast. With his keen interest in World War II, Doug provides detailed insights into each site, highlighting their historical significance and visitor experiences. The Imperial War Museum, located in Lambeth, offers a comprehensive look at themed exhibitions. At the same time, the Churchill War Rooms provide a glimpse into the wartime operations and the life of Winston Churchill. HMS Belfast, a Town Class light cruiser, offers an engaging experience with its rich naval history.
Tracy and Doug also share their private tour experience with LivTours, where they gained in-depth knowledge from an expert guide. The episode further explores sites outside of London, including Chartwell, Winston Churchill's former home, and Bletchley Park, home of the codebreakers, both accessible from London and offer unique insights into the war efforts.
Doug highlights additional World War II sites across the UK for those willing to venture further, such as the Battle of Britain Bunker in Uxbridge, the Imperial War Museum Duxford in Cambridgeshire, and the Western Approaches Museum in Liverpool. Each site offers a distinct perspective on the war, making them worthwhile visits for history buffs.
Whether you're a history aficionado or simply curious about the past, this episode offers a wealth of information and tips for exploring the UK's World War II heritage.
📝 Show Notes - Episode 135
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- Episode #126 - London Pass Itinerary Challenge
- Episode #47 - Practical tips for visiting the UK: top 10 FAQs
- Episode #86 - London like a local with Discover Real London Black Cab Tours
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Are you a history enthusiast planning a trip to
the UK?
This week we're diving into thefascinating world of World War
II sites in London and beyond,From iconic landmarks like the
Churchill War Rooms, BletchleyPark and Chartwell to other
must-visit locations such as theImperial War Museum and HMS
Belfast.
We share our insights intoplanning the perfect itinerary
for history buffs.
(00:20):
Join us on episode 135 of theUK Travel Planning Podcast, as
we explore the stories,significance and visitor
experiences at these remarkablesites.
Speaker 2 (00:30):
Welcome to the UK Travel Planning Podcast.
Your host is the founder of theUK Travel Planning website,
tracey Collins.
In this podcast, tracey sharesdestination guides, travel tips
and itinerary ideas, as well asinterviews with a variety of
guests who share their knowledgeand experience of UK travel to
help you plan your perfect UKvacation.
(00:53):
Join us as we explore the UKfrom cosmopolitan cities to
quaint villages, from historiccastles to beautiful islands,
and from the picturesquecountryside to seaside towns.
Speaker 1 (01:11):
Hi and welcome to episode 135 of the UK Travel
Planning Podcast.
So this week Doug and I Helloare here to chat about the best
World War II sites in London andsurrounds.
We are often asked about thisduring our consults.
We actually have an article onthe London Travel Planning
website so you can check outthat, which covers 21 plus
(01:36):
different destinations to go andvisit if you have an interest
in World War II.
We can't cover all of those inthis episode of the podcast
because the episode wouldprobably be about 20 hours long.
So we're going to kind ofmention the most popular ones in
central London and we're alsogoing to mention some of the
(01:56):
more popular ones slightlyfurther out of London, and then
Doug's going to mention a fewother ones which are in other
parts of the country which maypique your interest and you may
want to include in an itineraryif you're visiting the UK.
But that's the way that wethought we would do it, and Doug
is more of an expert on WorldWar II and has more of an
(02:17):
interest in World War II than Ido, so he will do a lot more of
the talking this episode, won'tyou?
Speaker 3 (02:22):
I will.
Yes, it's a big subject.
I more of the talk in thisepisode, won't you?
I will.
Yes, it's a big subject.
I mean there's so many peoplewant to visit it for various
different interests, but there'sa bit of something for
everybody.
It's not stuffy boring.
Old history is that they'veactually made them very
interesting sites yeah, that'sabsolutely true.
Speaker 1 (02:37):
I'll totally agree with you on that.
So there are three major sitesin london which you may wish to
incorporate into your London UKitinerary if you're visiting.
I'll quickly just talk abouteach through each of those three
, or just tell you which threethey are.
One is the Imperial War Museum,second is the Churchill War
Rooms and the third is the HMSBelfast.
(02:59):
Now, those are the three mostpopular and the three that are
often included in itineraries.
Particular, actually, thechurch of war rooms comes up
very, very, very often.
That's very popular yeah solet's start off, I think, with
the imperial war museum doug.
So chat to us a little bitabout that.
Speaker 3 (03:17):
Okay, so it's located in lambeth in london and it's
part of the Imperial War Museumgroup, which covers five
locations the Imperial WarMuseum in Lambeth or in London,
hms Belfast and Churchill WarRooms are the three sites.
There's two others which we'llmention later, but it's free to
visit and there's just such alot.
(03:39):
They do have themed topics, sothings on display that do move
around At the moment there'sWorld War I trenches there and
the Blitz of London in 3940.
So that's worth visiting aswell.
It's not scary If you've got totake small children.
There's lots to see, lots tolearn.
So you read into how muchdetail for your own personal
(04:03):
interest, because you don't havea huge interest in it, do you
really?
But you enjoyed the day that wehad there last time.
Speaker 1 (04:10):
Yeah, I did.
And again, it's a free museum.
The Imperial War Museum is free.
It's open from 10 to 6 pm everyday.
You get there via the LambethNorth Tube Station or you can
get a bus down to that area.
Yeah, it's an interestingmuseum to visit.
I'm not going to argue.
Absolutely it was good.
We did a really good tour whichwe'll talk about a little bit
(04:32):
later with an expert whichreally really helped, and I used
to be a history teacher so Iknow quite a lot about World War
I and World War II but Iactually learned a lot.
But yes, it's really good and Ithink that's a good start and
off point actually to visit theImperial War Museum.
Speaker 3 (04:49):
That's right.
People know a lot about it,until you get there and you
realise actually there's a lotthat I don't know.
So it's not just literallyabout war machines, war
equipment.
There's a lot about people, thepeople of London and how they
dealt with the uh, with theblitz.
So it's a very.
It's on different levels.
(05:10):
There's lots of differentlevels to the museum.
I think you see, you can bequite superficial, you can go in
quite deep yeah, absolutely.
Speaker 1 (05:17):
And um second, uh major kind of place to visit.
If you have an interest inworld war ii history in london
it's got to be the churchill warrooms.
Speaker 3 (05:25):
That's right yes, all the cabinet war rooms that was.
It is incredibly interesting.
I I do like the the war rooms,because it's not just about, uh,
winston churchill's war years,it's a lot.
It's about his childhood aswell and his jobs before knows a
reporter and it's aboutchurchill as a person and his
(05:46):
relationship with America.
It's very important.
Again, you can read into a lotof detail or you can be quite
superficial, depending on yourinterest.
We'll mention about the certaintimes.
It can be very busy and it canget quite hot down there as well
, which you found.
I've spent quite a few hoursvisiting the war rooms.
There's an audio tour as well,which you found.
I've spent quite a few hoursvisiting the the war rooms.
(06:06):
There's there's an audio umtour as well and, if you can get
, if it gets busy, you can bewaiting a little while so you
can actually view the rooms inless part of the audio tour
itself they do get very busy andthey do get, as you say, very
hot and quite packed.
Speaker 1 (06:24):
I I've been twice now .
The first time I wasn't so keenbecause it was in summer and it
was hot and it was packed andit was busy and I think I went
through the war rooms in about20 minutes was probably the
quickest that anybody's everdone them.
But on a recent trip it was muchquieter yeah, because it was an
afternoon, later afternoon in,uh, end of september, so no
(06:45):
school, no school groups andkind of more lower season, more
shoulder season in London, sonot as busy.
So give us a chance.
So I could really kind ofexplore it without feeling that
there was lots of people downthere and you know it was much
better I felt and I enjoyed itand was I found it really
fascinating actually just to seethe living conditions when they
(07:07):
had to live down there and youdon't see all of it because I
think some of them are kind ofeven further underground where a
lot of the secretaries andpeople lived.
Speaker 3 (07:15):
That's right.
Yeah, you can just see thetrapdoor entry down to the
sleeping quarters.
Speaker 1 (07:21):
But it's really interesting as well because you
see that the map, what they wereusing sleeping quarters.
But it's really interesting aswell because you see that the
map that we're using and youknow, in some ways it's hard.
We live in a world whereinformation is at our fingertips
.
We've got smartphones, we'vegot wi-fi, we've got the
internet.
You know we can talk to peopleon the other side of the world
in a blink of an eye.
And it's hard to imagine duringWorld War II, when they were
trying to plan everything, thatthey had to wait for coded
(07:43):
messages to come in which we'llkind of talk about in a bit when
we talk about one of our otherdestinations.
But just actually theorganization of being able to
plot everything out, figure outwhere everybody was, what they
were doing, and plan was just somuch harder in a world where
communication was just so muchmore challenging.
Speaker 3 (08:03):
It's on many, many different funds at exactly the
same time, so the amount ofinformation flow was just
absolutely amazing.
Speaker 1 (08:12):
So it's very interesting.
It's very interesting to seehow the kind of war rooms were
set up during World War Two.
It's also very interesting tofind out more about Churchill.
So if you are particularly keento learn more about his career,
his childhood, how it developed, how he became prime minister
and kind of you know, during thewar, the war years, what he did
(08:35):
, his role and then after thewar as well, then the war rooms
are definitely the place tovisit for sure.
Speaker 3 (08:43):
Yeah, it really is.
Speaker 1 (08:45):
And I will just mention at this point.
So we were invited very kindlyby Live Tours to do a private
tour with them at the end ofSeptember, which involved the
Imperial War Museums and thengoing over to the Cabinet War
Rooms or Churchill War Rooms,and it was absolutely fantastic.
As I say, I used to be ahistory teacher, secondary
(09:06):
school history teacher but Iknew absolutely nothing.
My knowledge was minusculecompared to Andy, who was the
guide, who took us around, whospecialises in World War history
history he's got a phd in it.
Speaker 3 (09:20):
He was fascinating to talk to he really was on so
many different levels.
Speaker 1 (09:26):
I mean, I thought I knew a little bit, but I know
virtually nothing um, I thinkthe first fascinating thing
about andy was as well that hecould answer the questions that
we asked and at our kind oflevel of interest, and if you
wanted to go deeper he could.
If you wanted kind of like abit more of a simple explanation
of what was happening, he couldgive you that.
Speaker 3 (09:47):
That's right, and I asked him to sort of reinforce
or correct me when I sort ofshared the bits of information
that I know I was right on someoccasions but you're right, he
went a lot more, a lot deeperthan the information I have in
my head, particularly thingslike strategy and tactics.
Speaker 1 (10:07):
He's an unbelievable authority I was very, very
impressed with him and I justloved the way that he was able
to.
You know he asked us what wewanted to know and kind of what
specific focus we had and whatinterest we had.
What particularly did we wantto know more about.
So you know he was able to kindof give us that information
(10:29):
both at the Imperial War Museumand when we went to the
Churchill War Museum as well,like an amount of information he
knew about Churchill I know wehad.
There was somebody else thatwas visiting and was asking him
questions as well.
It was fascinating.
Speaker 3 (10:42):
I was going to say that when we were at the
Imperial War Museum he wasanswering questions to us and I
did notice quite a few otherpeople standing around sort of
listening to what he was havingto say as well.
Obviously Andy was aware of ofthat and obviously very happy to
sort of share his knowledge.
Speaker 1 (10:59):
yeah, he was brilliant.
So I mean, if, if a privatetour is what you're after with
an expert, that I I highlyhighly recommend booking with
live tours.
And there is a link in the shownotes for this episode, um on
the.
So please use our link ifyou're going to book with Live
(11:19):
Tours.
But we highly recommend, youknow, if you want a private tour
, if you have an interest inWorld War II, then this is a
tour that you really need to goon to really get in-depth and
detailed information about itand take it to another level.
Oh, absolutely, absolutely.
So the third site that I'mgoing to talk about is HMS
Belfast, which I haven't been to, but you have.
Speaker 3 (11:40):
I've been a couple of times.
Yeah, HMS Belfast is a townclass-like cruiser and it's
actually birthed opposite theTower of London permanently and
every time I've been around thatI've been learning something
different each time.
I always tell a happy storythere about some American
(12:02):
sailors with unbelievableknowledge and they had captive
audience when I was visitingwith a friend of mine and they
knew everything about the ship.
They really did their knowledge.
Even the young sailors there,uh, were listening.
I think they were buildingtheir knowledge.
Speaker 1 (12:19):
Listening to the american sailors oh wow, and
you've been a couple of timesand you've enjoyed that, haven't
you?
Speaker 3 (12:26):
I have, and particularly during school
holidays, to pull other eventson as well.
Uh, it's all.
It's all very engaging forpeople of all ages yeah,
excellent.
Speaker 1 (12:35):
So so those are the three major sites in london.
There are far, far more.
There are monuments you canvisit.
There are, um, you know, ghostsigns you can see.
There are tube stations whichare now closed, such as aldwych,
which you can, which were usedin the blitz that's where you
know went down there for safety.
(12:56):
So you can actually do a tourof Aldrich tube station.
Again, I'll put a link on.
We've got a 10% discount forthat tour as well.
I'll put a link on if you wantto do a tour down to some of the
disused tube stations.
There's evidence even at the V&AMuseum.
You can see on the wall wherethere's been shrapnel damage
onto the building itself.
So you can see on the wallwhere there's been shrapnel
(13:17):
damage onto the building itself.
So there's lots and lots ofdifferent places.
St Dunstan's in the eastanother one I'll throw out there
.
So do check out our article formore information and more
details and pictures ofalternative places or additional
places you can add into youritinerary.
We're going to mention twoplaces just outside of London
now.
Now the first one I'm going tomention um, neither doug and I
(13:38):
have been, even though we really, really do want to go to, and
that is chartwell, which iswhere um the farm former home of
winston churchill.
So that is, yeah, somewherewe'd both like to go to.
Speaker 3 (13:50):
Yeah yeah, that's it, and it's uh.
By train you can go from londonbridge train station down to
eden bridge and it's about halfan hour, I think.
Yeah, so that's something thatwe'll hopefully we'll get.
It's by train.
You can go from London Bridgetrain station to Eden Bridge,
and it's about half an hour, Ithink.
Speaker 1 (13:59):
Yeah, so that's something that hopefully we'll
get to soon and we can add a bitmore information in about that
at a future time.
But we did want to just mentionthat because I know Chartwell
is a very, very populardestination.
But the other one that I dowant to spend a bit more time
talking about because we've bothbeen to and also comes up quite
often during itinerary consultsis bletchley park yeah, that's
(14:22):
right, the home of theco-breakers.
Speaker 3 (14:24):
We thoroughly enjoyed it.
We planned on being there a fewhours, but we're there a bit
longer than that even, weren't?
We spent best part of a daythere.
Really, you were pleasantlysurprised.
I know that you were sort ofgoing along to sort of keep me
company originally, but you didenjoy it, didn't you?
Speaker 1 (14:40):
oh, I did.
I thought it was absolutelyfascinating to find out about,
you know, how they had, you know, basically broken those codes
in the war and figured out andjust how clever it was and how
the people had been recruited towork for them.
Speaker 3 (14:54):
And, yeah, it was amazing mathematicians know the
men and ladies there.
They were incredibly cleverpeople from all walks of life
and they was all kept secret,obviously for 50 years.
But it's just the story.
I mean, it's been made intofilms and there's a lot about
Alan Turing, but the way itbrings it home the actual value
(15:17):
work that was done at BletchleyPark is not to be underestimated
.
But there's more to it thanjust that.
There as well, there's thehuman element of the people that
was there as well.
It's not just the war service,it's actually about the people
themselves.
Speaker 1 (15:33):
And it's quite easy to get to Bletchley Park as well
from London central London.
Speaker 3 (15:39):
Yeah, just over half an hour from London Euston.
Just remember, it's not coveredby an Oyster card.
Speaker 1 (15:45):
You would need a train ticket yeah, and I would
recommend that you give yourselfabout four hours really to get
there, and it's a very shortwalk from the train station to
actually bletchley park itselfthat's right, and if you go
there and you're there forlonger than you think, there is
a very good little tea roomthere as well and shop yes,
there is.
Yes, we did so, we spent, wespent most best part of a day
(16:07):
there, actually, and it was yeah, so we do highly recommend it.
So if you know that, if you'vegot an interest in world war ii
history, you know there's thereare lots of places to visit and
things to do in and aroundcentral london and a little bit
out as well.
But I know, dougie, there'ssome other places that you want
to mention yeah, that's right.
Speaker 3 (16:26):
The um talks bridge, the battle of britain uh bunker.
I've not actually been to thisone as well.
It's a little bit outside thePiccadilly line, I think,
definitely worth going to.
It's not part of the ImperialWar Museum group but it
obviously plays a valuable partin the Second World War, so
that's one definitely worthgoing.
(16:46):
Then, a little bit further outin Cambridgeshire, again part of
the Imperial War Museum is theAviation Museum at Duxford which
you can get to.
There's three stations youcould choose to go to there's
Whittlesford Parkway, royston orCambridge.
You can get a taxi from Roystonand Cambridge but from
(17:08):
Whittlesford you have to take abus.
But it doesn't run on a Sunday,so the details are on the
website article.
So a little bit further out thanthat again is some other sites
around the UK I have been to see.
There's the Imperial War MuseumNorth.
That's in Manchester, mostdefinitely worth a visit.
(17:28):
It's not as big as the one atlambeth but it's incredibly
interesting.
And then one of my personalfavorites outside london is the
western approaches museum inliverpool which details all the
information as regards theatlantic convoys uh, incredibly
interested.
I went with trace's brother, uh, who is a real authority on
(17:50):
anything military.
That's incredibly useful toknow.
The Imperial War Museum Duxonhave already mentioned and the
Leeds Armory Museum, whichdetails just what it says,
basically Military uniforms,weaponry.
That's just outside Leeds trainstation in Yorkshire Well worth
(18:10):
a visit.
And then all the way down tothe south coast is the Bovington
Tank Museum Most definitelyworth a visit.
If you're into your tanks andarmoured cars, it is incredibly
good.
If you get the right day, youcan see the tanks in operation
as well.
So there's a few there.
I've been to all those ones.
Speaker 1 (18:30):
I can definitely say they're worth a visit honestly
we could, we could do an entirepodcast, an entire article about
actually other world war iisites and places to visit across
the uk because there are somany oh I've just scratched the
surface, just literallyscratched.
There's a few, there's so manymore absolutely, and those ones
I mean a bovington tank Museumcomes up quite often as well in
(18:52):
consults.
We've talked about that withquite a few people, yeah, so I
think the Bovington is not soeasy to get to by trains.
Speaker 3 (19:01):
It's at Wall on the south coast, but all the others
are more straightforward to getto by train.
Speaker 1 (19:08):
Okay, well, I think that's given a fairly good
introduction and coverage ofsome of the major sites in
London and just outside.
As I say, we do have an articleon the London travel planning
website which you can check out.
We will link to the article inthe show notes at
uktravelplanetcom, forward slash, episode 135.
(19:29):
We would also please encourageyou to check out the show notes,
but also to look at ourarticles on both websites,
uktravelplanningcom andlondontravelplanningcom.
It is becoming increasinglymore difficult to get our
articles out there and seenbecause of changes in different
(19:50):
search engines and with theevent of AI these days, so we
really would appreciate yoursupport If you would please
check out our websites, whetherthat's the show notes, or
actually take a look at thearticles, where you will find
more information.
Also, I'd like to say as well,if you're enjoying our podcast,
why not become a supporter ofthe show and sponsor us?
(20:12):
You can do this from as littleas three US dollars a month.
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If you think about it, it's farless than a cup of coffee.
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It really helps us to continueweek on week, put out this
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(20:36):
can have to the UK.
But I think that was a greatsummary.
Great episode, doug.
Speaker 3 (20:42):
I know you got me talking more on this one.
Speaker 1 (20:45):
That's good.
I think people like to hearyour voice.
But anyway, until next week'sepisode, though, from myself and
Doug, all we have to say ishappy UK travel planning.
Thank you for tuning in to thisweek's episode of the UK travel
planning podcast.
As always, show notes can befound at uktravelplanningcom.
(21:06):
If you've enjoyed the show, whynot leave us feedback via text
or a review on your favouritepodcast app?
We love to hear from you, andyou never know.
You may receive a shout out ina future episode.
But, as always, that justleaves me to say until next week
, happy UK travel planning.
Are you a history enthusiast planning a trip to
the UK?
This week we're diving into thefascinating world of World War
II sites in London and beyond,From iconic landmarks like the
Churchill War Rooms, BletchleyPark and Chartwell to other
must-visit locations such as theImperial War Museum and HMS
Belfast.
We share our insights intoplanning the perfect itinerary
for history buffs.
(00:20):
Join us on episode 135 of theUK Travel Planning Podcast, as
we explore the stories,significance and visitor
experiences at these remarkablesites.
Speaker 2 (00:30):
Welcome to the UK Travel Planning Podcast.
Your host is the founder of theUK Travel Planning website,
tracey Collins.
In this podcast, tracey sharesdestination guides, travel tips
and itinerary ideas, as well asinterviews with a variety of
guests who share their knowledgeand experience of UK travel to
help you plan your perfect UKvacation.
(00:53):
Join us as we explore the UKfrom cosmopolitan cities to
quaint villages, from historiccastles to beautiful islands,
and from the picturesquecountryside to seaside towns.
Speaker 1 (01:11):
Hi and welcome to episode 135 of the UK Travel
Planning Podcast.
So this week Doug and I Helloare here to chat about the best
World War II sites in London andsurrounds.
We are often asked about thisduring our consults.
We actually have an article onthe London Travel Planning
website so you can check outthat, which covers 21 plus
(01:36):
different destinations to go andvisit if you have an interest
in World War II.
We can't cover all of those inthis episode of the podcast
because the episode wouldprobably be about 20 hours long.
So we're going to kind ofmention the most popular ones in
central London and we're alsogoing to mention some of the
(01:56):
more popular ones slightlyfurther out of London, and then
Doug's going to mention a fewother ones which are in other
parts of the country which maypique your interest and you may
want to include in an itineraryif you're visiting the UK.
But that's the way that wethought we would do it, and Doug
is more of an expert on WorldWar II and has more of an
(02:17):
interest in World War II than Ido, so he will do a lot more of
the talking this episode, won'tyou?
Speaker 3 (02:22):
I will.
Yes, it's a big subject.
I more of the talk in thisepisode, won't you?
I will.
Yes, it's a big subject.
I mean there's so many peoplewant to visit it for various
different interests, but there'sa bit of something for
everybody.
It's not stuffy boring.
Old history is that they'veactually made them very
interesting sites yeah, that'sabsolutely true.
Speaker 1 (02:37):
I'll totally agree with you on that.
So there are three major sitesin london which you may wish to
incorporate into your London UKitinerary if you're visiting.
I'll quickly just talk abouteach through each of those three
, or just tell you which threethey are.
One is the Imperial War Museum,second is the Churchill War
Rooms and the third is the HMSBelfast.
(02:59):
Now, those are the three mostpopular and the three that are
often included in itineraries.
Particular, actually, thechurch of war rooms comes up
very, very, very often.
That's very popular yeah solet's start off, I think, with
the imperial war museum doug.
So chat to us a little bitabout that.
Speaker 3 (03:17):
Okay, so it's located in lambeth in london and it's
part of the Imperial War Museumgroup, which covers five
locations the Imperial WarMuseum in Lambeth or in London,
hms Belfast and Churchill WarRooms are the three sites.
There's two others which we'llmention later, but it's free to
visit and there's just such alot.
(03:39):
They do have themed topics, sothings on display that do move
around At the moment there'sWorld War I trenches there and
the Blitz of London in 3940.
So that's worth visiting aswell.
It's not scary If you've got totake small children.
There's lots to see, lots tolearn.
So you read into how muchdetail for your own personal
(04:03):
interest, because you don't havea huge interest in it, do you
really?
But you enjoyed the day that wehad there last time.
Speaker 1 (04:10):
Yeah, I did.
And again, it's a free museum.
The Imperial War Museum is free.
It's open from 10 to 6 pm everyday.
You get there via the LambethNorth Tube Station or you can
get a bus down to that area.
Yeah, it's an interestingmuseum to visit.
I'm not going to argue.
Absolutely it was good.
We did a really good tour whichwe'll talk about a little bit
(04:32):
later with an expert whichreally really helped, and I used
to be a history teacher so Iknow quite a lot about World War
I and World War II but Iactually learned a lot.
But yes, it's really good and Ithink that's a good start and
off point actually to visit theImperial War Museum.
Speaker 3 (04:49):
That's right.
People know a lot about it,until you get there and you
realise actually there's a lotthat I don't know.
So it's not just literallyabout war machines, war
equipment.
There's a lot about people, thepeople of London and how they
dealt with the uh, with theblitz.
So it's a very.
It's on different levels.
(05:10):
There's lots of differentlevels to the museum.
I think you see, you can bequite superficial, you can go in
quite deep yeah, absolutely.
Speaker 1 (05:17):
And um second, uh major kind of place to visit.
If you have an interest inworld war ii history in london
it's got to be the churchill warrooms.
Speaker 3 (05:25):
That's right yes, all the cabinet war rooms that was.
It is incredibly interesting.
I I do like the the war rooms,because it's not just about, uh,
winston churchill's war years,it's a lot.
It's about his childhood aswell and his jobs before knows a
reporter and it's aboutchurchill as a person and his
(05:46):
relationship with America.
It's very important.
Again, you can read into a lotof detail or you can be quite
superficial, depending on yourinterest.
We'll mention about the certaintimes.
It can be very busy and it canget quite hot down there as well
, which you found.
I've spent quite a few hoursvisiting the war rooms.
There's an audio tour as well,which you found.
I've spent quite a few hoursvisiting the the war rooms.
(06:06):
There's there's an audio umtour as well and, if you can get
, if it gets busy, you can bewaiting a little while so you
can actually view the rooms inless part of the audio tour
itself they do get very busy andthey do get, as you say, very
hot and quite packed.
Speaker 1 (06:24):
I I've been twice now .
The first time I wasn't so keenbecause it was in summer and it
was hot and it was packed andit was busy and I think I went
through the war rooms in about20 minutes was probably the
quickest that anybody's everdone them.
But on a recent trip it was muchquieter yeah, because it was an
afternoon, later afternoon in,uh, end of september, so no
(06:45):
school, no school groups andkind of more lower season, more
shoulder season in London, sonot as busy.
So give us a chance.
So I could really kind ofexplore it without feeling that
there was lots of people downthere and you know it was much
better I felt and I enjoyed itand was I found it really
fascinating actually just to seethe living conditions when they
(07:07):
had to live down there and youdon't see all of it because I
think some of them are kind ofeven further underground where a
lot of the secretaries andpeople lived.
Speaker 3 (07:15):
That's right.
Yeah, you can just see thetrapdoor entry down to the
sleeping quarters.
Speaker 1 (07:21):
But it's really interesting as well because you
see that the map, what they wereusing sleeping quarters.
But it's really interesting aswell because you see that the
map that we're using and youknow, in some ways it's hard.
We live in a world whereinformation is at our fingertips
.
We've got smartphones, we'vegot wi-fi, we've got the
internet.
You know we can talk to peopleon the other side of the world
in a blink of an eye.
And it's hard to imagine duringWorld War II, when they were
trying to plan everything, thatthey had to wait for coded
(07:43):
messages to come in which we'llkind of talk about in a bit when
we talk about one of our otherdestinations.
But just actually theorganization of being able to
plot everything out, figure outwhere everybody was, what they
were doing, and plan was just somuch harder in a world where
communication was just so muchmore challenging.
Speaker 3 (08:03):
It's on many, many different funds at exactly the
same time, so the amount ofinformation flow was just
absolutely amazing.
Speaker 1 (08:12):
So it's very interesting.
It's very interesting to seehow the kind of war rooms were
set up during World War Two.
It's also very interesting tofind out more about Churchill.
So if you are particularly keento learn more about his career,
his childhood, how it developed, how he became prime minister
and kind of you know, during thewar, the war years, what he did
(08:35):
, his role and then after thewar as well, then the war rooms
are definitely the place tovisit for sure.
Speaker 3 (08:43):
Yeah, it really is.
Speaker 1 (08:45):
And I will just mention at this point.
So we were invited very kindlyby Live Tours to do a private
tour with them at the end ofSeptember, which involved the
Imperial War Museums and thengoing over to the Cabinet War
Rooms or Churchill War Rooms,and it was absolutely fantastic.
As I say, I used to be ahistory teacher, secondary
(09:06):
school history teacher but Iknew absolutely nothing.
My knowledge was minusculecompared to Andy, who was the
guide, who took us around, whospecialises in World War history
history he's got a phd in it.
Speaker 3 (09:20):
He was fascinating to talk to he really was on so
many different levels.
Speaker 1 (09:26):
I mean, I thought I knew a little bit, but I know
virtually nothing um, I thinkthe first fascinating thing
about andy was as well that hecould answer the questions that
we asked and at our kind oflevel of interest, and if you
wanted to go deeper he could.
If you wanted kind of like abit more of a simple explanation
of what was happening, he couldgive you that.
Speaker 3 (09:47):
That's right, and I asked him to sort of reinforce
or correct me when I sort ofshared the bits of information
that I know I was right on someoccasions but you're right, he
went a lot more, a lot deeperthan the information I have in
my head, particularly thingslike strategy and tactics.
Speaker 1 (10:07):
He's an unbelievable authority I was very, very
impressed with him and I justloved the way that he was able
to.
You know he asked us what wewanted to know and kind of what
specific focus we had and whatinterest we had.
What particularly did we wantto know more about.
So you know he was able to kindof give us that information
(10:29):
both at the Imperial War Museumand when we went to the
Churchill War Museum as well,like an amount of information he
knew about Churchill I know wehad.
There was somebody else thatwas visiting and was asking him
questions as well.
It was fascinating.
Speaker 3 (10:42):
I was going to say that when we were at the
Imperial War Museum he wasanswering questions to us and I
did notice quite a few otherpeople standing around sort of
listening to what he was havingto say as well.
Obviously Andy was aware of ofthat and obviously very happy to
sort of share his knowledge.
Speaker 1 (10:59):
yeah, he was brilliant.
So I mean, if, if a privatetour is what you're after with
an expert, that I I highlyhighly recommend booking with
live tours.
And there is a link in the shownotes for this episode, um on
the.
So please use our link ifyou're going to book with Live
(11:19):
Tours.
But we highly recommend, youknow, if you want a private tour
, if you have an interest inWorld War II, then this is a
tour that you really need to goon to really get in-depth and
detailed information about itand take it to another level.
Oh, absolutely, absolutely.
So the third site that I'mgoing to talk about is HMS
Belfast, which I haven't been to, but you have.
Speaker 3 (11:40):
I've been a couple of times.
Yeah, HMS Belfast is a townclass-like cruiser and it's
actually birthed opposite theTower of London permanently and
every time I've been around thatI've been learning something
different each time.
I always tell a happy storythere about some American
(12:02):
sailors with unbelievableknowledge and they had captive
audience when I was visitingwith a friend of mine and they
knew everything about the ship.
They really did their knowledge.
Even the young sailors there,uh, were listening.
I think they were buildingtheir knowledge.
Speaker 1 (12:19):
Listening to the american sailors oh wow, and
you've been a couple of timesand you've enjoyed that, haven't
you?
Speaker 3 (12:26):
I have, and particularly during school
holidays, to pull other eventson as well.
Uh, it's all.
It's all very engaging forpeople of all ages yeah,
excellent.
Speaker 1 (12:35):
So so those are the three major sites in london.
There are far, far more.
There are monuments you canvisit.
There are, um, you know, ghostsigns you can see.
There are tube stations whichare now closed, such as aldwych,
which you can, which were usedin the blitz that's where you
know went down there for safety.
(12:56):
So you can actually do a tourof Aldrich tube station.
Again, I'll put a link on.
We've got a 10% discount forthat tour as well.
I'll put a link on if you wantto do a tour down to some of the
disused tube stations.
There's evidence even at the V&AMuseum.
You can see on the wall wherethere's been shrapnel damage
onto the building itself.
So you can see on the wallwhere there's been shrapnel
(13:17):
damage onto the building itself.
So there's lots and lots ofdifferent places.
St Dunstan's in the eastanother one I'll throw out there
.
So do check out our article formore information and more
details and pictures ofalternative places or additional
places you can add into youritinerary.
We're going to mention twoplaces just outside of London
now.
Now the first one I'm going tomention um, neither doug and I
(13:38):
have been, even though we really, really do want to go to, and
that is chartwell, which iswhere um the farm former home of
winston churchill.
So that is, yeah, somewherewe'd both like to go to.
Speaker 3 (13:50):
Yeah yeah, that's it, and it's uh.
By train you can go from londonbridge train station down to
eden bridge and it's about halfan hour, I think.
Yeah, so that's something thatwe'll hopefully we'll get.
It's by train.
You can go from London Bridgetrain station to Eden Bridge,
and it's about half an hour, Ithink.
Speaker 1 (13:59):
Yeah, so that's something that hopefully we'll
get to soon and we can add a bitmore information in about that
at a future time.
But we did want to just mentionthat because I know Chartwell
is a very, very populardestination.
But the other one that I dowant to spend a bit more time
talking about because we've bothbeen to and also comes up quite
often during itinerary consultsis bletchley park yeah, that's
(14:22):
right, the home of theco-breakers.
Speaker 3 (14:24):
We thoroughly enjoyed it.
We planned on being there a fewhours, but we're there a bit
longer than that even, weren't?
We spent best part of a daythere.
Really, you were pleasantlysurprised.
I know that you were sort ofgoing along to sort of keep me
company originally, but you didenjoy it, didn't you?
Speaker 1 (14:40):
oh, I did.
I thought it was absolutelyfascinating to find out about,
you know, how they had, you know, basically broken those codes
in the war and figured out andjust how clever it was and how
the people had been recruited towork for them.
Speaker 3 (14:54):
And, yeah, it was amazing mathematicians know the
men and ladies there.
They were incredibly cleverpeople from all walks of life
and they was all kept secret,obviously for 50 years.
But it's just the story.
I mean, it's been made intofilms and there's a lot about
Alan Turing, but the way itbrings it home the actual value
(15:17):
work that was done at BletchleyPark is not to be underestimated
.
But there's more to it thanjust that.
There as well, there's thehuman element of the people that
was there as well.
It's not just the war service,it's actually about the people
themselves.
Speaker 1 (15:33):
And it's quite easy to get to Bletchley Park as well
from London central London.
Speaker 3 (15:39):
Yeah, just over half an hour from London Euston.
Just remember, it's not coveredby an Oyster card.
Speaker 1 (15:45):
You would need a train ticket yeah, and I would
recommend that you give yourselfabout four hours really to get
there, and it's a very shortwalk from the train station to
actually bletchley park itselfthat's right, and if you go
there and you're there forlonger than you think, there is
a very good little tea roomthere as well and shop yes,
there is.
Yes, we did so, we spent, wespent most best part of a day
(16:07):
there, actually, and it was yeah, so we do highly recommend it.
So if you know that, if you'vegot an interest in world war ii
history, you know there's thereare lots of places to visit and
things to do in and aroundcentral london and a little bit
out as well.
But I know, dougie, there'ssome other places that you want
to mention yeah, that's right.
Speaker 3 (16:26):
The um talks bridge, the battle of britain uh bunker.
I've not actually been to thisone as well.
It's a little bit outside thePiccadilly line, I think,
definitely worth going to.
It's not part of the ImperialWar Museum group but it
obviously plays a valuable partin the Second World War, so
that's one definitely worthgoing.
(16:46):
Then, a little bit further outin Cambridgeshire, again part of
the Imperial War Museum is theAviation Museum at Duxford which
you can get to.
There's three stations youcould choose to go to there's
Whittlesford Parkway, royston orCambridge.
You can get a taxi from Roystonand Cambridge but from
(17:08):
Whittlesford you have to take abus.
But it doesn't run on a Sunday,so the details are on the
website article.
So a little bit further out thanthat again is some other sites
around the UK I have been to see.
There's the Imperial War MuseumNorth.
That's in Manchester, mostdefinitely worth a visit.
(17:28):
It's not as big as the one atlambeth but it's incredibly
interesting.
And then one of my personalfavorites outside london is the
western approaches museum inliverpool which details all the
information as regards theatlantic convoys uh, incredibly
interested.
I went with trace's brother, uh, who is a real authority on
(17:50):
anything military.
That's incredibly useful toknow.
The Imperial War Museum Duxonhave already mentioned and the
Leeds Armory Museum, whichdetails just what it says,
basically Military uniforms,weaponry.
That's just outside Leeds trainstation in Yorkshire Well worth
(18:10):
a visit.
And then all the way down tothe south coast is the Bovington
Tank Museum Most definitelyworth a visit.
If you're into your tanks andarmoured cars, it is incredibly
good.
If you get the right day, youcan see the tanks in operation
as well.
So there's a few there.
I've been to all those ones.
Speaker 1 (18:30):
I can definitely say they're worth a visit honestly
we could, we could do an entirepodcast, an entire article about
actually other world war iisites and places to visit across
the uk because there are somany oh I've just scratched the
surface, just literallyscratched.
There's a few, there's so manymore absolutely, and those ones
I mean a bovington tank Museumcomes up quite often as well in
(18:52):
consults.
We've talked about that withquite a few people, yeah, so I
think the Bovington is not soeasy to get to by trains.
Speaker 3 (19:01):
It's at Wall on the south coast, but all the others
are more straightforward to getto by train.
Speaker 1 (19:08):
Okay, well, I think that's given a fairly good
introduction and coverage ofsome of the major sites in
London and just outside.
As I say, we do have an articleon the London travel planning
website which you can check out.
We will link to the article inthe show notes at
uktravelplanetcom, forward slash, episode 135.
(19:29):
We would also please encourageyou to check out the show notes,
but also to look at ourarticles on both websites,
uktravelplanningcom andlondontravelplanningcom.
It is becoming increasinglymore difficult to get our
articles out there and seenbecause of changes in different
(19:50):
search engines and with theevent of AI these days, so we
really would appreciate yoursupport If you would please
check out our websites, whetherthat's the show notes, or
actually take a look at thearticles, where you will find
more information.
Also, I'd like to say as well,if you're enjoying our podcast,
why not become a supporter ofthe show and sponsor us?
(20:12):
You can do this from as littleas three US dollars a month.
That's not very much.
If you think about it, it's farless than a cup of coffee.
And if you are getting valueand you're enjoying the podcast
episodes, we would ask that youcould please show your support
to us in that way.
It really helps us to continueweek on week, put out this
content for you to help you planthe best trip that you possibly
(20:36):
can have to the UK.
But I think that was a greatsummary.
Great episode, doug.
Speaker 3 (20:42):
I know you got me talking more on this one.
Speaker 1 (20:45):
That's good.
I think people like to hearyour voice.
But anyway, until next week'sepisode, though, from myself and
Doug, all we have to say ishappy UK travel planning.
Thank you for tuning in to thisweek's episode of the UK travel
planning podcast.
As always, show notes can befound at uktravelplanningcom.
(21:06):
If you've enjoyed the show, whynot leave us feedback via text
or a review on your favouritepodcast app?
We love to hear from you, andyou never know.
You may receive a shout out ina future episode.
But, as always, that justleaves me to say until next week
, happy UK travel planning.
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