The Cabinet War Rooms

Visiting castles built in the long distant past is all very well but for something a little closer to our own times then the Cabinet War Rooms is not to be missed.

At the end of WW II this underground bunker, from where Winston Churchill conducted his war (I think we can call it his war), was closed up and virtually forgotten. Situated in the basement of the Whitehall Building it was a time capsule waiting for the deprivations and horrors of 'the war years' to morph into nostalgia and fascinating history.

And fascinating it is. You can almost smell the cigar smoke hanging in what must have been a claustrophobic and airless space. The Cabinet Room is here, where crucial strategical decisions were debated into the night, and the Transatlantic Telephone Room a space about as big as a broom cupboard, that's because it was in fact a broom cupboard before being commandeered for a higher service. The Map Room is just as it was when they walked out and closed the door in August 1945. No need to recreate it, maps, charts, books, all still here.

A suite of private rooms known then as the Courtyard Rooms provided safe shelter for Churchill, his wife Clemmie, and other important staff members when bombing made it unwise to venture out. These rooms have been recreated as faithfully as possible and it is quite touching to see this humble domestic side to the otherwise businesslike world of men at war.

You could spend hours in the Churchill Museum area where it's all state-of-the-art, hi-tech, multi-media, interactive displays and where we can find out everything we ever wanted to know about this one-of-a-kind human being. Delightful little things like a letter from his beloved Clemmie warning him that he was becoming rather boorish as the war dragged on!

A special exhibition – Life in Churchill's Bunker – features interviews with his staff members of the time, most of whom never actually saw him in person. Hundreds of people worked long hours in this subterranean world and each would have their own stories to tell. We hear a few of them. We've probably heard these stories on television documentaries but they never lose their fascination. For many people the war was the most exciting time of their lives but they were not allowed to discuss the nature of their work with anyone or even that they worked for the government. One can only imagine how difficult it was to keep that secret.

Out of the bunker and back to the year 2010. What manner of world it would be if Churchill and his Cabinet had not succeeded in their quest, albeit with the belated help of the Americans, we shall never know.