Roughly half-way between Oxford and Cambridge, not by accident, is an old estate named "Bletchley Park."

I know about it because of a PBS series, "The Bletchley Circle." I should know about it because I'm a member of the Free World. Sigh...just when you think you know history, you only discover how very little you know of history.

Britain knew early that a storm was hitting Europe, and created a center for code-breaking at Bletchley. Purposely convenient to Oxford and Cambridge, they recruited the great minds of their time. The PBS series is based on the women of Bletchley and their post-war lives. So secret was the work done here, that silence was required for decades after peace was declared. Only now is serious work being done to make a visit here more cohesive and tourist-friendly. The first actual "Welcome Center" is due to open in 2014.

Most of the women assigned here were with the Royal Navy, Wrens, and their posting was to HMS Pembroke V.

Here the Brits broke the code of the German Enigma and Lorenz machines. Americans were involved (There's an American garden) and the Poles worked tirelessly across Europe, sharing their information with Bletchley. At its height, over 10,000 people worked here. Lying to everyone they loved about their work. Interesting, huh?

Homes were requisitioned for their use; it's walkable from the train for those commuting; many came on bikes. It's fascinating. And you can roam to your heart's content.

I had lunch in a concrete-block former office (they sprawl all over the estate) and went on.

Word to the wise: Milton Keynes is made up of double-rotaries designed to make visiting Americans cry. I have a superb innate sense of directions, and I was driven mad. I contemplated bursting into tears, but knew it would further hamper my reading of the road signs whizzing by.

And suddenly, I was on the right road. I'd say hand of God. You can say lucky girl or whatever...but I made it out and on.