A little wander around Windsor
Windsor is a place that holds a fair few memories for me. I visited this pleasant town and its mighty castle a number of times when I was growing up, most memorably following the death of the Queen Mother, when my family and I joined thousands of others to pay our respects at St George’s Chapel. That day, the queue stretched right around the castle, but it was a somewhat quieter scene that greeted us as we pulled up in Windsor to break our journey home from Canterbury last week.
We’d watched a repeat of a fascinating documentary about the running of Windsor Castle only the previous night, so it was fresh in our minds as we enjoyed a wander around the town at lunchtime. The Royal Standard was not in evidence, so Her Majesty was obviously elsewhere!
Just across the road from the Castle is this quiet little cobbled street, which I really liked. I especially loved the bow windows on some of the shops, though most of them seemed to be filled with tourist tat.
This was an interesting building I’d not seen on my previous visits to Windsor. It was empty, which was surprising. I would have thought that any cafe or souvenir shop would do well to be based there, as the novelty of its crookedness would surely bring more visitors!
We chose not to go into the castle on this visit, as we wouldn’t have had time to get round it all, and ticket prices are a bit steep at £20 each. If I’m going to pay that much, I definitely want to get a full day out of it! Instead, we had a look around the old station – which is now a pleasant shopping area with upmarket shops such as Le Creuset – before making our way back to the car.
Our final view of the castle was merged in with a mishmash of other rooftops as seen from the carpark. Personally, I love a good roofscape, and this one was interesting for the sheer variety of buildings and the height differences of the rooftops.
As we left Windsor, I reflected on the fact that we really are lucky to have so many interesting and historic places to visit so densely packed into this country. On that note, I’ve just finished reading Bill Bryson’s latest delightful book, The Road to Little Dribbling, which is a sequel to Notes from a Small Island, and I have to say that it’s made me look at this country with renewed enthusiasm. If you haven’t read either, I can’t recommend them enough!