Being back in England so soon after the funeral of Queen Elizabeth and all those views of Windsor Castle on the tv, had me thinking back to my days there some 50 years ago!!! So just had to make a return trip for old times sake.

So just move on if you’re anti-royalist, otherwise enjoy the photos of a sunny day in Windsor and I make no apologies for a self indulgent trip down memory lane😊.

So much had changed and yet so much was the same! I can’t recall trendy little back street coffee shops in my day or trashy souvenir shops but the old haunts that have been there for centuries still remain.

This is more like it, a good old pub that has been refreshing it’s customers since the 1700’s. A perfect spot for lunch.

A glass of cider or ale, a hearty sandwich and surrounded by “horsey” memorabilia- bliss 😂

Anyone know the history of the Shergar Cup? Seems a certain Craig Williams rode on the “foreign team”.

Just some of the pub’s interior decor

After lunch we headed down towards the mews entrance

And there at the gateway it all came flooding back, I lived and worked here once upon a time it was a strange feeling as I gazed through into the stable yard and saw ghosts of the past.

In these present times there is a barricade and armed police officer preventing access but after a brief chat he allowed me to take a few photos.

And on the left of the gateway my old “digs” just across from the ponies. Don’t think we ever had fancy iron railings “back in the day”.

A favourite pub at the gateway to the park that we passed each day, riding one pony and leading another on either side.

Once past the pub we used to head into the Park, turn right  and canter off down the side of The Long Walk. All the way up to the Copper Horse Statue at the end where we would canter in large endless circles before cantering home again. Usually out for a couple of hours at a time. Those ponies were pretty fit!!!

Enough I say!!!

Nostalgic trip over it was time to join the queue to enter the Castle itself, in true English fashion the queue was orderly and good humoured as we slowly made our way up towards the security check prior to entry.

Anyone interested in history, art or castles needs to visit Windsor. The surroundings and collections are mind blowing, to the extent that small children (it was half term !!) were open mouthed and “Wow-ing” everywhere 😊

Just a little bit of history for those that might be interested:

“The oldest and largest inhabited castle in the world, Windsor Castle has remained in almost continuous use since it was built by William 1st in the aftermath of the Norman Conquest of 1066. For nearly a thousand years it has been a symbol of monarchy and its long and extraordinary history is entwined with that of the nation as a whole. It is not a museum, the rooms are used for state occasions and official entertaining.”

Following a typical Norman design with a central tower, or keep, constructed on an artificial earthen mound originally in timber, stone and then In around 1225 replaced by the present Round Tower.

The mound or motte was surrounded by a fortified enclosure or bailey, known as the Middle Ward. Two further wards the Upper and Lower were added later and by the thirteenth century the circuit of walls was complete. The essential outline of the Castle has remained the same ever since.

Photographs were allowed outside but within the State Appartements no go, so just a couple of shots from the brochure to show the general idea.

One afternoon was not enough to see all that we would have liked too, the artwork alone collected and available for all to see was just amazing.

So, that was a trip down Memory Lane that I have wanted to do for some time. It was great!!!