🥾 Walk 692 - Windsor Great Park

A group of eighteen gathered for a walk on Sunday 9th February, which was generally flat and mostly tarmac paths - a bonus in winter. Although cold and dull, we avoided the forecast of light drizzle enjoying a dry day.

From Bishopsgate we walked past the pink Royal Lodge and onto the Royal School. These were commissioned by Queen Victoria and Prince Albert in 1843 to educate the families of those working within her majesty’s service of the park and opened in 1845.

Further along the road, were the new Mezel Hill Barns housing the Royal Collections.

At the junction we turned into Duke’s Lane part of the Three Castles Path down to Prince Consort’s Gate. A bridle path took us through Buckhurst Park woodland and alongside Virginia Water up to High Bridge.

We then followed main paths, over Johnson’s Pond bridge and edge of the Valley Gardens (a walk here for spring/summer maybe) to the Polo Fields. From here we headed up the flat expanse of Smith’s Lawn past the Prince Consort’s statue to Obelisk Ride, a wide picturesque grassy track leading to Lower Obelisk Pond bridge and the Cumberland Obelisk monument.

Close by, we reached our welcome lunch stop and facilities at the visitors centre of Savill Gardens. Commissioned by George V and created by Eric Savill in 1932, the gardens encompasses 35 acres and visited by an entry fee. Suitably refreshed, we walked the mile long straight path from the gardens past the enclosed Chapel Wood and Cow Pond, back to Bishops Gate and the end of our walk.

Thanks go to Kathy for leading this walk and for writing it up.

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