Aldersgate Ward Club

We started our visit on 16 August with a tasty brunch at the historic Castle Hotel in Windsor town centre. Some of our members had arrived earlier to have a look around the town & also at the Guildhall Museum just across the road from the hotel. The cheery Aldersgate group met up at 1.00pm to enjoy our brunch, which included a complimentary alcoholic or soft drink, in the hotel’s restaurant overlooking the High Street.

The Castle was just across the road & up a small incline but having pre-booked we were able to access the castle relatively easily without a long queue. We picked up our headsets for the self-guided tour which offered a number of alternative levels of detail and made our own way around the fascinating royal castle which was one of the late Queen’s favourite royal homes. We could take photographs in the grounds but not inside the buildings.

Most of us chose to visit the State Apartments first, which really was a walk through 1000 years of Royal history from the eleventh century to the present day. We saw paintings from the Royal Collection, including some by Rubens, Van Goch & Holbein the finest porcelain dinner & tea services & exquisite English & French furniture. Interestingly President Macron had visited the King at Windsor a few days before our visit but may not have been amused to be entertained in the first reception room on our tour - The Waterloo Room! From there the rooms progress through various reception & dining rooms to both the King’s Bedroom and his private rooms via numerous ante rooms, meeting rooms & the Queen’s rooms. Overall, many of our members, who had visited Buckingham Palace, thought that the rooms & layout of the Castle surpassed the Palace for both splendour & impact.

After the State Apartments we saw Queen Mary’s Dolls House, although some members had started their tour there. The dolls house is regarded as the largest & most famous in the world & was built for Queen Mary, the wife of George V, by the leading British architect Edwin Lutyens. The miniature house has many floors & is a perfect model home including a fully stocked wine cellar with all the bottles containing the actual wine shown on the labels, flushing toilets, running water & working lifts.

Our tickets enable us to return free of charge anytime in the next 12 months & most of us vowed to do so. As we left, we went past a Victory over Japan Day (15 August) commemoration where educators in WW2 costumes carried out Home Guard Drills & displayed a 1940s ambulance & Morris C8 Truck like the one Queen Elizabeth drove & repaired during the Second World War.

Overall, it was a truly memorable day enjoyed by all who attended.