Trent Park’s secret listeners give children a way into wartime history

As the Second World War drifts further into the past, how do we keep learning from it?

I lived in nearby Oakwood until I was 30, so Trent Park’s wartime history particularly interests me.

At Enfield’s Trent Park House of Secrets, children can hear diary extracts and try spotting words in recorded conversations. They’re discovering the work of the secret listeners, many of them Jewish refugees, who gathered intelligence by eavesdropping on captured German officers.

The museum’s learning programme uses original wartime transcripts. There’s a useful lesson here for other museums: give children real evidence to investigate and people’s stories to follow.

The charity reported more than 8,000 visitors in its first month after opening in July. That shows interest, though it cannot tell us what visitors learned.

For October half-term, a new under-eights trail explores the house’s interwar years alongside the wartime exhibits. The trail is free, but normal admission applies.

Together, these activities give families a place to explore war, persecution and resistance, and ask why those stories still matter.

Sources

• Enfield Dispatch — family trail and interactive exhibits, 1 October 2026.
• Museums Association — wartime history and learning programme, 23 July 2026.
• Enfield Dispatch — first-month visitor numbers, 21 August 2026.
• Trent Park House — October activities, accessed 5 October 2026.