UK 2013 Day 8 Windsor

Day 8- Saturday, June 15 2013: Windsor
We work up from a very restful night and went down to the breakfast room, which overlooked the beautiful green lawn and talked with our hostess about breakfast options.  She was offering Eggs Benedict (always a huge favorite), something else that I don't recall...and then nervously mentioned that she was trying out a new french toast recipe.  We all jumped on that option, which made her even more nervous.  What if it didn't work out, she was obviously thinking?  But we were game to try it, and she didn't disappoint.  Thick bread soaked in custardy goodness, served with maple syrup and English bacon.  Yum!  It was so good that we repeated our order the next day, too.

Our plan for the day was to visit Hampton Court until early afternoon, then swing by Windsor Castle in the late afternoon.  So with that outline, we piled into the car and drove about 30 minutes until we were at Hampton Court.  Both Eileen and I had been when we had each toured the UK with our families as kids - so in my case, that meant I'd last been there in 1972.  Of course, I recalled the hedge maze as a highlight (and I also recalled the indoor tennis court). 

What they have now - and maybe it has always been this way - is signposting that provides you with some optional, self-guided "themed" tours.  We followed a couple of different ones.  If I recall correctly, one of them focused on the state rooms and private apartments and we did this one first.  We also followed a path that was focused on food and drink, and emphasized things like the kitchens, wine cellars, and even the back stairs by which things were delivered to the noble occupants.  We thought that they did a nice job of explaining things on signs without overwhelming you with text.

The Coach Yard at Hampton Court.  Today, it was setup to host a concert that was going to happen that evening.

Hampton Court is somewhat famous for the melding of both Tudor (early 1500s) and Baroque (very late 1600s) architectural styles.  Here you can clearly see the older solid wall brick Tudor next to the much more ornate, airy Baroque

At age 13, Robert was starting to develop an aversion to having his picture taken.  Andrew, of course, never saw a camera that he didn't like - and that didn't like him in return.

Around noon time we were ready for a bite, and were already feeling a bit fatigued, so we stopped at one of the food places on the grounds (probably the Privy Kitchen).  In keeping with the historic traditions surrounding us, the food was awful.  At least it made up for it by being overpriced.  On the other hand, we had low expectation so they managed to meet them.

After lunch we headed back outside to the gardens went and saw the tennis court and then made our way to the hedge maze.  Ironically, pretty much the only rain of entire trip occurred while we were in the hedge maze.  Go figure!  I didn't recall just how narrow that maze was.  In my memory it was huge, wide boulevards bordered by giant, thick greenery.  Of course, it is actually really narrow paths bordered by well-tended, but hardly lush, shurbs. 

Our point man leads us during our explorations.

Success!  As mentioned, about the only rain we saw during our entire visit came down while we were outside in the hedge maze.

By this time it was about 2:30P and we were running about 30 minutes behind our nominal plan, which had us arriving at Windsor Castle by this time.  A quick survey of the boys indicated that vacation fatigue, which had started appearing a couple of days previously in London (but was put aside for HP Studios), was setting in.  Interest in Windsor Castle was weak - and truthfully Eileen and I were in the same boat.  We would have been happy to see it, but since we were already a bit behind schedule it would have been a rushed affair and that's not something we like to do.  So with that choice we retreated from Hampton Court and made the drive back to Rainworth House.  I would have liked to stop at Runnymeade, which we passed on the motorway...but I knew that there was a small hike involved and the historic site isn't actually very visually interesting.  This is a time when my minor in English History would have been happily fed, but at the expense of everyone else's happiness, so I just kept driving.

When we got back to Rainworth House we took advantage of the beds for naps and the common room to do some reading.  The bedroom and common room photos on the previous day's write-up are actually from today.  Dinner that night was, I believe, at a pub recommended by our hostess that was 15-20 minutes away (and was VERY good).  I've scoured Google Maps and looked at countless photos trying to figure out what place it was, but to no avail.  All I can recall is that it was up some country lane (in other words, she didn't send us into the town).  For all I know it is no longer in business in 2018.

We closed out our pleasant stay in both Windsor and England with this meal, as we were going to be off to Wales in the morning.