It was one of those wonderfully traditionally barmy July days as we made our way to Windsor for our visit to the Castle. Our fourth oversubscribed event in succession, despite increasing our order two weeks earlier, and with the excessive heat of recent times a mere memory we comfortably strolled around the Castle in smaller groups in normal July blue skies and warm sunshine.
We initially enjoying the gardens and views and then meandering through the Castle itself one; of the most popular parts being the dolls house. 1/12th size even down to record player and discs ( remember those?) which actually played music! It was hard to imagine that the tiny bottles in the box of wine actually amounted to a bottle full, but a dozen bottles at 1/12 size presumably did as everything is exactly one-twelfth of its original size, making it a perfect architectural replica of an Edwardian stately home. The library features original, hand-written and hand-bound tiny books by literary legends of the era, some of which are even smaller than regular miniatures. The scale was precise enough to allow for fully plumbed bathrooms with flushable toilets and operational engines in the miniature. A tribute to British engineering and craft skills.
The State Rooms are a true walk though history and whichever group folk were in they smiled at the thought of the King going through an official formal routine each morning to get up and another to retire to bed! But then he wasn’t rushing to catch the bus! A further example of great British craftsmanship was the rebuilt St George’s Hall following the fire of November 1992 which reopened in 1997.
Most of us enjoyed St George’s Chapel as it was closing for a service at 5.15 and it was not as crowded as it has been earlier in the afternoon so we had time to linger as passed our late Queen’s last resting place and it was noticeable in the area around the Choir and Chancel that all of Andrew Mountbatten Windsor’s flags and coats of arms had been removed. Indeed, there appeared to be no evidence anywhere that he has ever existed.
The Royal Standard was raised as we arrived and as we sat in the sun in a courtyard enjoying ice creams word reached us that the King had donned in gardening garb and was weeding! We didn’t offer to help but crossed the road to the Duchess of Cambridge for food and libations before going our sperate ways by road and rail.
Next up is rowing and then a trip to Britain’s oldest brewery and you can find details of all the events else where on the website, LinkedIn and Instagram: @farringdonwardclub.
A great afternoon out but these things don’t just happen so my thanks to Nick Dougan and Bruce and Emma de Saram for making it all happen!
