Windsor & Eton

Windsor Castle is a real castle with a real history, neither a ruin nor a Victorian pastiche. Originally it was built for defence sat on a rare bit of higher ground beside the Thames. Over time obviously defence became less important until it became the Royal Palace it is today. So, of course it will attract visitors. Quite rightly. But perhaps rather more than is comfortable or appropriate. I say that not because it was too crowded when I went, but because too many of the visitors were frankly little interested. the majority were in tour groups and to be honest a very large proportion were bored French school parties who just wanted to rush through chatting to their friends. Not criticising the teenagers, just those taking them. Why drag them through?

The grounds are extensive, the proportions impressive, but so is the entry fee, some £17. But you can convert this into an annual pass, so looked that way its not so bad. The audio guide is free too, and well worth picking up as otherwise you would struggle to make much sense of what one sees.

 The round tower is in the middle, the oldest part of the complex. Up on its own mound with apparently its own well it would have been a pretty defensible spot.

 The round tower also has a lovely garden down one side

View from the North Terrace

 A special mention for the Gothic St George's Chapel on the Lower Ward, not only of interest for its royal tombs but for the grace of it vaulting. A really lovely space. Even despite being cluttered with the French school party.

Of course that's all just the exterior. The interior is as lavish as one might expect from a Royal Palace.

Solid silver side tables. Pretty much the epitome of luxury and ultimate status symbol

Bed in the King's Bed Chamber. Nothing TOO ostentatious

A charming painting of the eldest 5 children of Charles I by Sir Anthony van Dyck

Portrait of the pope by Sir Thomas Lawrence in the Waterloo  Chamber, surrounded by a whole panoply of Lawrence portraits of dignatories involved in the downfall of Napoleon

A portrait of a servant, Bridget Holmes aged 96. Clearly a life spent disposing of the contents of chamber pots does one no harm

Queen Mary's Dolls House, but not really a dolls house but a scale model of a magnificent town house

A curious golden crown from South America

From the throne of Tipu, the Sultan of Mysore, from the days where you could plunder your enemies goodies

 The town by the river is sweet too, albeit almost entirely consisting of pubs and restaurants. This really is a tourist town.

The Guildhall

 

The Crooked House tea-room, fore those who like to take their tea in a lopsided manner

 The Riverside is nice for a stroll too. Swans add to the vista of any English river.

 Alexandra Gardens occupy a site just next to the river and include some inventive waterworks

 Crossing the river one comes to the little town of Eton, and its rather large public school, Eton College Naturally it comes with its own Gothic chapel, since it was originally established to provide 70 free scholarships for boys to enter the church. The only lesson was Latin. And lots of it.

 

 All 70 boys slept in one unheated dormitory, being the upper storey of the left hand building above. Below it was the single classroom, split into two by a curtain to create two classes. Apparently Eton still refers to classes as "divisions" because of this.

 The school even has its own little museum of Eton life containing a few mannequins of boys and pleasingly the school's old birching block with birches. In the days when discipline was really discipline. Actually by the sound of it, it didn't work very well in terms of keeping order, but no doubt offered the masters some entertainment and exercise.

The famous playing fields of Eton

And it would be a pity to end a trip to such a strong boating area without a boat trip. Would have been nicer on a warmer day, but even so it was pleasant enough and allows one sights of things one wouldn't so easily see, like Royal Ascot racecourse.

You never know what you might see from the river...

Royal Ascot on race day. There is actually a mooring point so you can attend by boat

Boveney Lock

Well that's one use for old plant pots....

Oakley Court, a fine Victorian Neo-Gothic pile, now a hotel

Monkey Island hotel

Bray film studios

Boveney Church

View of Eton College chapel from the river

Replica of the Royal engine for the Royal train, sitting in Windsor station