A Trip to Windsor #6 :: Trains, Planes & no Automobiles

Hi there everyone 😀

Welcome to the last in the series of posts from our trip to Windsor back in February. It seems such a long time ago now. I'm so glad we went as we've had to cancel our two spring breaks to Scotland and to Yorkshire and we are not away now until September, which seems like forever away.

Having seen all of the major sights ... The Changing of the Guard, The Eton Walkway and The Castle ... we made our last full day in Windsor a nice and slow one with a late start followed by a trains, planes and no automobiles wander.

We started out in the opposite direction to normal ... not heading for the High Street, but out the back way, passing the Office of The Duke of Edinburgh's Award and the very pretty Western Cottage ... I know, shame about the wheelie bins ...
We'd spotted an interesting looking statue in Bachelors Acre on a previous wandering and we started our walk off with a detour to have a closer look at what we now knew was 'The Windsor Lady' ...

From here we headed back into Central Station to have a closer look at the Queen's Train ...

From the station we headed along the platform for the footbridge and lift down into Alexandra Park Gardens ...

We were on the lookout for the Hawker Hurricane ... point 52 of interest on The Queen's Walkway ... and we were delighted to find it not too far away ...




After photographing it from every angle possible we made our way back along The Thames, with a quick look at The Jubilee Fountain ...
... before heading into Brown’s for a quick pitstop before heading back to The Courtyard for our Valentines' meal in.

Saturday morning and time to pack up and head for home. We were both sorry to leave our cosy apartment and it was the first time we’d actually got in the car since we’d arrived in Monday,

We’d had a fab break ... we’d both loved Windsor and our first Airbnb ... if you’ve not been then we would definitely recommend a visit ... especially if you can get to go out of season when it’s a bit quieter. It was a real treat ... now to get home and get cracking with 2020 ...

... if only we'd known what was just around the corner 😀

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A Trip to Windsor #5 :: Exploring the Castle

Hi there everyone 😀

For today's post we are back in Windsor for more of our February trip.

It was Thursday and it was a big day. It was time for our visit to the castle.

We had been planning on getting there early to see the changing of the guard from inside ... but in the end we favoured a bit of a later get up instead. We were pleased though to catch the old guard making their way back to barracks ...
Before heading to the castle we had a bit of a wander to have a look at the long walk ...
As you can see, after the glorious sunshine we'd been blessed with for the previous couple of days today was just a little bit on the grey side.

We made our way to the castle entrance, via Queen Charlotte Street ... the shortest street in England ...
There was no queue and before we knew it we were in and ready to explore ...
The castle had seemed impressive from the High Street but close up and towering above us it was even more so ...
The first thing we came to was a bit of an exhibition where I was really taken with this image of Her Majesty ...

We then followed the path past the gardens to the main entrance for our visit to the State Apartments and the Semi-State Rooms, which are not always open so definitely best to check carefully before you plan your visit ...

You can't take any photographs inside of the castle, but it did not disappoint ... it was stunning and definitely something pretty special.

We got to see far more than we expected to, including where the fire of 1992 began ... the restoration is absolutely brilliant ... you would never know it had happened.

After we came back outside we were thrilled to bits to get to see a bit of a handover of the guards, having to swiftly move ourselves out of the way of the gate ...

We were even blessed with a little bit of blue sky as we made our way down past the castle and towards St George's Chapel ...

The Chapel is a beautiful building ...
You can't take photos inside but it is definitely worth a visit. It is jam packed full of interesting things and so much history ... I had no idea that so many of our Kings and Queens are buried there.

Having watched Harry and Meghan's wedding on the TV it was fascinating to look and see where everyone sat and the guides were brilliant at explaining the Order of the Garter and the symbolism of all of the flags and banners.

So that was it then ... another thing ticked off my list of the 50 things I want to do before I hit 60. I couldn't resist one last photo before we left ... though I have to say watching tourists pose with this poor chap for selfies did make me feel a little uncomfortable ...

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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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