A Trip to Windsor #4 :: The Eton Walkway

Hi there everyone 😀

Today you can read the next instalment in my series of posts about our visit to Windsor back in February .

It was Wednesday and we had lots more blue sky and sunshine, so we headed back out and down the High Street ... passing Queen Victoria and the castle ...

... and back to the footbridge across the river ...
Our plan was to complete the Eton Walkway ...
We headed over the river, deciding that the Cote Brasserie would be a good place to stop for lunch after we’d finished our walk ...
We made our way up the quaint little High Street where I couldn’t resist a quick snap of this ...

... as we made our way to Baldwin’s Bridge ...
We were then pretty much in the heart of the college area, which was just lovely. It was nice and quiet, not too much traffic and fabulous buildings in all directions ...

We stopped to have a good look at 'The Burning Bush' ...

... before heading out along the main road ...
... passing The Timbralls on our way ...
... to the spot where the wall game takes place ...

... which gave for a pretty decent view ...
Sadly the footpath that we wanted to take was closed so we ended up retracing our steps back via The Burning Bush, before heading down Common Lane ...

We were in search of the Anthony Gormley sculpture, which we missed on first passing, having not been looking in the right direction at all. When we finally spotted it we were pretty impressed ...

There he is ... up on the side of the wall looking down ...

Back onto the High Street we headed down Kate’s Lane ...

... and past the Natural History Museum ...

... ending up at the Jamar Gallery ... which, whilst beautiful, was slightly at odds with the other buildings that we’d been passing ...

From here it was back across South Meadow to return to the High Street, passing the church on the way ... where the ground floor has been converted to the town's Medical Centre ...
Back on the High Street we retraced our earlier steps along the opposite side of the road, peaking in intriguing little alleys ...

... before passing The Eton Mess ...

... and heading back to The Cote Brasserie for a very nice, and reasonably priced, lunch, with a fabulous view.

We'd both loved exploring Eton, with all its history and tradition. It was lovely seeing 'the boys' just wandering around the college area in their smart tailcoats. It is most definitely worth a visit and The Eton Walkway booklet can be picked up at the tourist information centre, for free, in the centre of Windsor. As well as giving the route to follow it is full of interesting anecdotes and bits of history ... it certainly helps make sure you don't miss anything 😀

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Random Ramblings :: Last Week ...

Hi there everyone 😀

How is it that, when we are still pretty much on lockdown, we are so busy? And not, as Bing Crosby would say ... "busy doin' nothin'" 😀

I think my knack of finding us things to do is slowly driving Martin crazy and we did agree to a 'day off' on Friday, followed by a long, lazy Bank Holiday weekend.

I did have a Governors' meeting which we did this time on Zoom, so that was another experience ... we are moving onto Microsoft Teams next time ... so more new technology to get to grips with.

I also had a shift at the food bank, and a very busy one it was too.

Adding on our fortnightly shopping trip, and accompanying errands, for us, the neighbours and mum and dad ... made it a week with not many days with nothing on the calendar ... I say that in the loosest terms ... for some reason I seem to have stopped writing things on the kitchen calendar, which is how Martin keeps up with what we are doing and when. I've even been a bit lax at adding stuff to my phone calendar ... I guess with so little happening it's easier to remember stuff. Not always as easy to remember what day it is though 😂

In between these bits and bobs there has been lots of sewing going on ... mainly face coverings, of which I have made an absolute stack, with another pile cut out ready for next week ...
It was a real pleasure to have a small break from face coverings to sew up a few reusable face wipes for a bit of a change ...
I have also started to have a think about my next project ... which I will try and squeeze in amongst the face coverings ...
Whilst the weather was a bit mixed there were a couple of really nice days and we did get to spend some time in the garden generally pottering about, planting and potting on seedlings ... we are desperate to take delivery of two new raised vegetable beds that have been on order for ages, but we are trying to make do in the meantime.

The stars of the show at the moment are the clematis ...

... and the roses ...
We have BBQ'd and had lunch in the garden and I think that this is my favourite view for now ... just looking across the garden from the patio, with layers of planting and plenty to catch the eye ...

We also managed to have a go at another ... very bad for you ... recipe that I'd saved from Facebook ... I really must stop doing this ...
Oh ... one last thing ... remember my machine embroidered cards ...
Well these were delivered this week ... a set of postcards, which I love and will be very loathe to part with ... they will be saved for very special occasions ...
I also think that I may try and have a go at framing some of the actual embroidery, so watch this space to see how they turn out ...
Well I think that's it for now ... can't wait to see what next week brings ... if the weather is right and the mood takes us I think we may pop out for lunch one day ... I know the perfect spot 😀

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Random Ramblings :: Out out!

Hi there everyone 😀

Last Tuesday we went out ... not just out, but out out.

Not just shopping and not to the foodbank, but out for a walk ... yes you heard right ... a walk ... our first since lockdown.

Ok ... so we were picking up a few bits and pieces from the supermarket to drop off at Mum and Dad’s and I did need to try and find some elastic, for which we were going to try Wilkos. I also needed to drop off a parcel at the Post Office.

Wilkos were sold out of elastic so we headed into town for our walk, where we bumped into some good friends by our favourite Indian restaurant, so managed a socially distanced chat, before managing to find what I was looking for in Poundland, which was a real result.

For our walk we weren’t going far, just having a wander in our castle grounds, which are always lovely and today was no different.
We headed in across the bridge opposite the old town hall and wandered down past the castle, which is currently closed, and the succulent statues to find a new gravel bed has been planted just before the gates ...

There is always a fabulous view of the castle to be had from in front of the flower beds by the bandstand, but they were in the process of being planted so weren't as bright as normal ...
We headed over the river ... stopping to look back at the view ... we really are very lucky to have this right on our doorstep ...

We were heading for the wisteria covered tunnel, down past the outdoor gym, all chained up and out of action ...
... passing the geese at their ever popular feeding spot ...
... before heading across the park, past the bowling green and these absolutely stunning purple rhododendrons, making me wish I'd bought my camera, rather than just my phone ...

I had really wanted to see the wisteria and I thought we might have missed it at it's best ... but no ... it looked and smelled amazing ...
We spent a fair whilst amongst the blooms, taking in the scent and the colours ... it was really stunning ...

It was also lovely and quiet and peaceful ...
I'm so glad we got to see it ... and it was really nice being out ...
I headed away from the wisteria, leaving Martin sitting on a bench in the sunshine ...
... and carried on across the green bridge over the river ...

 ... stopping to take in the view ...

... before heading back to the car park over the Ladybridge ...
Whilst we haven’t really missed going out I have to say it was lovely to just have a bit of a change of scene.

Back home I got the sewing machine out and had a play at something new ... hence the need for elastic ...
By 9pm I’d had orders for 30 so no prizes for guessing what I would be spending the next few days doing.

I spent Wednesday at the dining room table giving the sewing machine a very good work out ...
It wasn't all work and no play though ... as this was delivered just in time for lunch ... and a very welcome treat it was too ... Thank you Jo, Steve, Hannah and Meg ...
Oh ... and that wasn't the only delivery that arrived on Wednesday ... this came too and I just love it ...
In other news ... there wasn't much gardening going on last week ... it just felt too cold, but there is lots coming into flower and the garden is looking good ... we just need some more sunshine ...

... and Martin had a go at baking some fancy blueberry cheesecake muffins with a streusel topping with last year's blueberries from the freezer. I'd saved the recipe to have a go at but was just too busy on the sewing machine ...

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