Beaufront Castle
Beaufront castle stands at Sandhoe near Hexham, Northumberland, and during the second world war it was due to play an important role in the defence of the country if the enemy had chosen to invade England from the North. It was lined up to be the operations centre for what would have been called The Battle of the Tyne.
Fortunately the castle was never required to take on this important role and today continues as a private residence.
The co-ordinates at the top are not those of the cache, but provide a good viewpoint for looking at the castle. (You cannot see the castle from the final location). To find the true co-ordinates involves solving a coded message, however, I must Playfair and confess that the message is actually written in the form of a cipher, which reads,
LI TG BF IH EM CH OV NH LA LB LX QF HA VI AV TZ VZ KQ BF LG LB LX DT VT VI BT KB EL RA TZ VZ VG TV ME YX VZ EX HV VY HV NL YD KQ BF VE HV NL RA TZ IV TG DW FH ME TN YD LI VH VZ LN MT QE CR NV CL VH VZ CH GT CN VH FQ DV BR HW CP LT VO PE NQ XR VI OA FH EH CN VH VZ LN XT
To crack the code it is essential you remember Hitler did not invade.
I'm not sure how much it was used during this period, and by modern standards the cipher is rather crude, however, it was rejected by the British Foreign Office when it was first developed because of its perceived complexity. When a demonstration was offered suggesting that three out of four boys in a nearby school could learn to use it in 15 minutes, the Under Secretary of the Foreign Office responded, "That is very possible, but you could never teach it to attachés". It was eventually used for tactical purposes by British forces in the Second Boer War and in World War I and for the same purpose by the Australians during World War II.
The cipher will be familiar to some of you but to others it could be a bit of a challenge, so if anyone is having trouble with the solution, please email me and I'll try to point you in the right direction.
Note - the cache is not located in the grounds of the castle.
"Good luck".......or should that be "FV VN HY AP"?
