Hey Neighbour,
I recently got an early look inside Trent Park House of Secrets, and although I expected the wartime espionage story to be the main attraction, what stayed with me was how many people it took to stop this history from being lost.
Upstairs, Trent Park feels like a grand country retreat. It is easy to see how the surroundings may have helped the prisoners lower their guard. Rooms from Sir Philip Sassoon’s glamorous 1930s home have been carefully recreated, with furniture and artworks returning to the house for the first time since 1939.
But once you head downstairs, the atmosphere completely changes.
The M Room
The M Room was one of my favourite spaces, alongside mess room ( which is basically the kitchen). It was one of three listening rooms where the Secret Listeners monitored conversations between German prisoners of war staying in the bedrooms above.
Project Curator Tori Reeve described the Secret Listeners’ work as a constant process of “listening, thinking, recording, listening, transcribing, drafting.” They worked long shifts, switching between conversations from different bedrooms and recording anything important onto discs that could hold only seven minutes of conversation.
The prisoners thought they could speak freely, but microphones had been hidden almost everywhere.
Volunteer Steven Dale told me that some were even placed beneath the outside windowsills, catching prisoners who leaned out to talk because they suspected their rooms might be bugged. The billiard room and parts of the garden were monitored too.
Talking to the people working there made the visit even better. Their curiosity about the house felt genuine, and they were open about how many questions still remain and what might yet be uncovered.
The museum has been 12 years in the making, but it may not have existed without the local people who campaigned to save Trent Park.
Director Giuseppe Albano told me that creating it would have been “impossible” without local support, including the residents behind the original Save Trent Park campaign.
Steven put it perfectly:
“This is part of our local history… This is national history. It is an important part of Britain’s wartime story that local people helped preserve.”
Would I recommend it? Definitely.
And when you go, give yourself time, speak to the volunteers and ask questions. The building may be called the House of Secrets, but the people inside are finally ready to tell them.
Trent Park House of Secrets museum, is open now from Tuesday to Sunday from 10am to 5pm. Grab your ticket here.