For breakfast I once again chose a few items from the Full English option. On this occasion my plan for a smaller breakfast didn’t work, the chef added extras of the items I had chosen so that my plate was full!

After breakfast we checked out of the hotel  and drove to Bury St Edmunds in order to visit St Edmundsbury Cathedral. It was one to add to my Cathedral passport which details my pilgrimage to British  Cathedrals since the passport was launched in 2020. Starting the pilgrimage  off was a bit of challenge, shortly after the pilgrimage passport was launched England and other parts of Britain were put into lockdown due to the Covid 19 epidemic.

At the Cathedral, a lady from the tourist information area pointed out some highlights and suggested we also visit the nearby St Mary’s church where Henry VIII’s sister, Mary Tudor is buried next to the high altar. She also told me to look at the spectacular Angel vaulted ceiling.

We enjoyed our tour of the Cathedral where we learned that the tower and crossing were quite modern and completed in the 1950s. We had enough time to visit St Mary’s where we were greeted by one of the guides who shared detailed history of the building including the location of Mary Tudor’s (Queen of France & Duchess of Suffolk) tomb. Mary Tudor was married to Louis XII of France until his death after which she married the Duke of Suffolk.

Besides the two beautiful church spaces the town of Bury St Edmunds is delightful. We didn’t have time to explore the town but we had just enough time to visit the Abbey gardens before continuing our journey to Windsor.

We broke our journey for lunch in The Old Butchers at Balsham a place recommended on the Extra Mile website. On arrival we found the menu was not as extensive as the website suggested but the food (in my case a cherry flap jack with yoghurt topping) was both excellent and delicious. The weather was warm and sunny allowing us to sit outside.

The remainder of the journey to Windsor was tedious; lots of motorway and duel carriageway driving. On arrival at the hotel we checked in and found that we had been booked into the same room we had stayed in on our previous visit. Initially we were a little dismayed, we had been hoping to stay in the annex near to the car park and station. We also remembered the bed being a little on the small side, which it is not.

Later I realised the problem was the mattresses were tired which meant I kept rolling into the middle (small bed space). The mattresses have been replaced and are now super cosy.

We chilled out in the hotel room, cooling off from the muggy heat before enjoying our free pre-dinner drink in the hotel bar. Then we walked the short distance across the bridge into Eton where we dined in the Cote Brasserie. Before returning to our hotel for the evening we had a nightcap in the George Inn.

For breakfast I chose the continental option. It was every bit as good as I remembered it from last time. Comfortably replete, we walked through Windsor to the Cambridge Gates (The Windsor Great Park entrance to the castle).

The weather was perfect for the the walk; it was so warm we didn’t need to wear coats. The walk is 2.64 miles long and we enjoyed the views and seeing the deer herd as we got closer to the large statue of King George III that is located at the far end of the walk. We enjoyed the sense of achievement and took in the view from the elevated location before walking the pathway in the opposite direction in time for lunch in Clarence Brasserie & tea room where I chose fishcake with a sweet chilli sauce.

After lunch I sat on a bench whilst Mr C went to look for a Moroccan restaurant we had booked for the Monday night. He was gone so long I began to wonder if he had got lost or forgotten about me. Whilst I was waiting two ladies decided to sit next to me on the bench even though there were several empty benches nearby. As they had crowded me out I moved up a bit to give myself more space only for the lady next to me to shuffle up close to me again! I decided to move to a nearby vacant bench which turned out to be in a nicer spot than the one I had vacated. Whilst there I was asked to take a photograph of family group who wanted their picture taken standing in front of Windsor Castle.

When Mr C eventually returned half an hour later we walked across the Windsor bridge to visit an antiquarian bookshop that Mr C had remembered from our previous visit to Eton. Next we retraced our steps across the bridge in search of a naughty cake before taking a leisurely boat trip along the Thames to Boveney Lock after which we returned to the hotel to freshen up before dinner.

We dined in The Ivy Royal Windsor Brasserie. The food was lovely (I chose fish and chips followed by mini chocolate truffles) and we had excellent service and plenty of friendly banter with the gentleman who was waiting on us.

We finished our evening in Wetherspoons for a final drink before it was time to turn in for the night.

Our return visit to Windsor took place a week later than we had originally planned. Our plan was to revisit Windsor Castle, in particular St George’s Hall and St George’s Chapel, which was not fully open on our previous visit. The castle had only reopened a few days before our planned visit date following the passing of Queen Elizabeth II so we thought it might be busy that weekend.

Our journey to Windsor was accompanied by sunshine and mostly ran smoothly apart from a congested portion on the M40 which because of the queues, led to us missing Cherwell Valley services for lunch. We stopped at Oxford Services where neither of us were enamored by the lunch options. Eventually I opted for a sandwich from Waitrose and Mr C chose a KFC burger.  Modern life with on screen food ordering really isn’t for me. I like to get up close to the counter and see what is on offer without having to scroll through screens. The place was heaving and we were glad to get away from it.

Due to it being Saturday we found the road into Windsor was congested. The congestion was particularly bad  when we arrived at the car park which is next to Windsor and Eton Riverside station. This was where our hotel has reserved spaces that are pre-bookable. Cars were parked all over the place making it difficult to manoeuvre in and out of the car park. I got out of the car to do a recce and established there were plenty of spaces in the hotel’s reserved spaces for which we had pre-booked a ticket for the duration of our stay. We  had to be patient and wait in the queue until we got to the appropriate section of the car park.

Safely parked we checked in at the hotel, then walked back to the car to collect our luggage. The car park was still chaotic and I had difficulty manoeuvring my wheeled case between the narrow spaces between both parked and moving cars. I breathed a sigh of relief as I left the car park and stepped into a side road to let a car exiting the car park pass by me. The car driver drove towards me so I decided to move further to one side but the car driver tried to park her car in the space where I was standing causing me to leap into the only space left for me which meant hastily lugging my wheeled case up a curb to get out of her way.

Luggage safely in the room we opted not to go on the Long Walk as originally planned because we didn’t think there was enough time to enjoy it properly. We opted for a walk along the river instead which involved ice cream and a drink before a leisurely stroll ‘there and back’ along the River Thames starting at Eton Bridge.

Once back at the hotel we claimed our free drink which we enjoyed at our leisure, sitting outside on the hotel terrace before freshening up for dinner. We dined in A la Russe where I chose halibut steak followed by lemon sorbet, oranges, amaretto, and amoretti biscuit crumbs.

The place was buzzing and the food was every bit a delicious as it had been on our previous visit there. After each course we were asked if we had enjoyed it to which Mr C quipped as his (empty) plate was taken away, ‘As you can see it was awful’. At the end of the evening after paying the bill we were offered a complimentary glass of Limoncello, it would have been rude not to accept the offer. When it arrived the proprietress told Mr C that ‘it would be awful’ and as we left (with a twinkle in her eye) she wished us ‘an awful weekend’. Much laughter was had by all.

Holiday diaries of my recent mini break in Windsor are coming soon. Watch this space…

We enjoyed our final breakfast with a window view over the Thames, making a full set of breakfasts with window views. Before checking out, Mr C parked the car at the back of the hotel near to our room so that we could load our cases into the car easily. As we were loading the car, two buses came down the narrow street, one of them hoping to park in the space next to our car. The space wasn’t quite big enough and we weren’t quite ready to leave. This led to the buses doing manoeuvers and the two drivers having to wait at the end of the street until we had handed in the room keys and vacated the space we were parked in.

We visited Waddesden Manor, a place that has been on my ‘To Visit’ list for many years but we had never been in the right place at the right time to make it happen. There is a lovely long walk to the manor where you catch glimpses of it through trees until it reveals itself in all its ‘French Renaissance château’ glory.

I wasn’t disappointed. The house and gardens are stunning, although the pools for the fountains were empty of water and the aviary was only partially accessible due to painting and refurbishment. This just means we will have to visit again soon.

We explored the gardens before eating lunch in the Stables Courtyard where I chose blueberry and lemon cake accompanied by elderflower presse. After we had eaten, we made our way to the manor for our timed ticket entry slot. It wasn’t a busy day so we were able to enter the manor early which turned out to be a good thing due to the numerous rooms and displays on offer.

We left Waddesden late in the afternoon and programmed the SatNav for home. Shortly afterwards the SatNav responded that there were delays which would add an hour to our journey. We had hoped to pick up a ready meal from one of the motorway services but the SatNav found a quicker route which meant we bypassed all of them. Back in our home town, much later than planned we purchased a Chinese Takeaway meal from Sainsbury’s, which, after unpacking our cases, we enjoyed with a refreshing glass of wine.

Whilst enjoying a leisurely breakfast, we were treated to another early morning river view. After breakfast, we stopped at the hotel reception area to request replacements for the essential items that had gone missing when our room was serviced the previous day.

Supplies suitably replenished, we returned to our room and gathered what we needed for a day visiting Brooklands museum which is home to the world’s first purpose built car-racing circuit and an aerodrome. Mr C was particularly interested in seeing the historic steep banked car racing circuit dating from 1907. On arrival he was able to sit in the cockpit of a racing car and drive along a simulation of the track.

As we made our way around the museum we were lucky enough to be treated to personal guided tours by museum volunteers. The first such tour took us around what is known as the Loch Ness Wellington, the only known surviving Brooklands-built Wellington. This Wellington, N2980, developed and engine problem during a training flight in 1940 and ditched in Loch Ness. In 1976 the Wellington was located in the Loch by a team of American Loch Ness Monster hunters and subsequently raised.

Later we were given a detailed explanation of the Stratosphere Chamber, designed to simulate atmospheric conditions such as snow wind and ice where planes, boats, clothing and other equipment were tested out for vulnerabilities in order to improve their design.

After our personal tours it was time to board Concorde with our complimentary boarding pass. Our tour guide, a former flight attendant on Concorde, shared both technical information and anecdotes. Suitably seated and ready for flight, the pilot, via video, gave us additional information as we reached Mach 2.02. We were told not to look outside the windows at it might spoil the illusion. When we reached our destination (right where we started) we were given a complimentary flight certificate to commemorate our flight on Concorde.

I have only touched the surface of the things we saw during our visit to Brooklands and there was so much more to see, but we ran out of time.  This meant that our planned visit to Runnymede later in the afternoon had to be postponed for another occasion.

Back at the hotel, we had time to relax and freshen up before dining in the Cote Brasserie which is located just on the opposite side of the Thames, via Windsor Bridge, from the Hotel Christopher Wren. Then it was back to the hotel for a nightcap in the bar, which on this occasion, was still serving when we retired for the night.