{"id":509,"date":"2012-06-02T02:45:06","date_gmt":"2012-06-02T02:45:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.christophersomerville.co.uk\/?p=509"},"modified":"2012-05-28T11:30:18","modified_gmt":"2012-05-28T11:30:18","slug":"diamond-jubilee-walk-%e2%80%93-the-royal-landscape-windsor-great-park-berkshire","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.christophersomerville.co.uk\/?p=509","title":{"rendered":"Diamond Jubilee Walk \u2013 The Royal Landscape, Windsor Great Park, Berkshire"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Gentlemen in cream linen jackets and white hats, ladies in floral dresses fluttered by the solitary zephyr to stir a baking hot summer morning in the southern end of Windsor Great Park.<br \/>\n<script type=\"text\/javascript\">window.onload = setupZoom; function popwalk(walk) {var url = \"\/Walks\/amap.php?f=\"+walk; var walkwindow=window.open(url,\"walkwin\",\"height=1240,width=930,resizable=yes,scrollbars=yes\"); if (window.focus) {walkwindow.focus()}}<\/script>First published in: The Times <a href=\"javascript:popwalk('JubileeWalk.gpx');\" rel=\"nozoom\" title=\"Click here to view a map for this walk in a new window\">Click here to view a map for this walk in a new window<\/a><\/script><br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/farm8.static.flickr.com\/7100\/7266343274_dce456ce45.jpg\" title='Savill Gardens 1'><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/farm8.static.flickr.com\/7100\/7266343274_dce456ce45_s.jpg\" alt=\"picture\" \/><\/a> <a href=\"http:\/\/farm8.static.flickr.com\/7238\/7266347486_45581c1d7f.jpg\" title='Obelisk Pond, Savill Gardens'><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/farm8.static.flickr.com\/7238\/7266347486_45581c1d7f_s.jpg\" alt=\"picture\" \/><\/a> <a href=\"http:\/\/farm8.static.flickr.com\/7076\/7266351358_d2dea11c32.jpg\" title='Obelisk Pond, Savill Gardens 2'><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/farm8.static.flickr.com\/7076\/7266351358_d2dea11c32_s.jpg\" alt=\"picture\" \/><\/a> <a href=\"http:\/\/farm8.static.flickr.com\/7093\/7266354834_6bd70c8aba.jpg\" title='The Charybdis in the Temperate House'><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/farm8.static.flickr.com\/7093\/7266354834_6bd70c8aba_s.jpg\" alt=\"picture\" \/><\/a> <a href=\"http:\/\/farm9.static.flickr.com\/8141\/7266357804_ecf5afdcf1.jpg\" title='Temperate House'><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/farm9.static.flickr.com\/8141\/7266357804_ecf5afdcf1_s.jpg\" alt=\"picture\" \/><\/a> <a href=\"http:\/\/farm8.static.flickr.com\/7244\/7266360000_3101225dd0.jpg\" title='The Long Walk from Snow Hill'><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/farm8.static.flickr.com\/7244\/7266360000_3101225dd0_s.jpg\" alt=\"picture\" \/><\/a> <a href=\"http:\/\/farm8.static.flickr.com\/7071\/7266360976_b12597b47a.jpg\" title='The Copper Horse on Snow Hill'><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/farm8.static.flickr.com\/7071\/7266360976_b12597b47a_s.jpg\" alt=\"picture\" \/><\/a> <a href=\"http:\/\/farm8.static.flickr.com\/7239\/7266365696_da5fb29b6b.jpg\" title='Valley Gardens'><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/farm8.static.flickr.com\/7239\/7266365696_da5fb29b6b_s.jpg\" alt=\"picture\" \/><\/a><br \/>\nFacebook Link: <script src=\"http:\/\/connect.facebook.net\/en_US\/all.js#xfbml=1\"><\/script><fb:like href=\"http:\/\/www.christophersomerville.co.uk\/wordpress\/?p=509\" layout=\"button_count\" show_faces=\"true\" width=\"200\" colorscheme=\"dark\"><\/fb:like><br \/>\nLord, what a beautiful day! The Royal Landscape (Savill Gardens, Valley Gardens and Virginia Water) looked absolutely at its peak, the Savill Gardens especially. Their many decades of scrupulous landscaping, planting and pruning were bursting out in this Diamond Jubilee weather in a carefully crafted \u2018sweet disorder\u2019 of rhododendrons \u2013 purple, pink, orange, peach, white, mauve. The gardens, created in the 1930s, only occupy 35 acres of ground, but I could happily have lost myself all day following the trails to the Hidden Gardens and the intensely scented Rose Garden, through Spring Wood and Summer Wood, past the coot sailing in the Obelisk Pond and the flood of psychedelic colour from the senetti magenta in the Queen Elizabeth Temperate House.<\/p>\n<p>At last I tore myself away, paused in the Savill Building for a glass of lemonade that hardly touched the sides going down, and set out through the glades and lawns of Windsor\u2019s wider Great Park. This is one of England\u2019s oldest parks, founded by William the Conqueror and embellished over a thousand years by his successors. After the beautifully sculpted formality and simmering heat of the Savill Gardens, it was like throwing off a heavy cloak to wander in the shade of the oaks and sweet chestnuts, past Cow Pond (a unique Baroque water feature, recently restored from dereliction), and to see what artless nature had scattered in the grass \u2013 bluebells, milkmaids, red campion, buttercups.<\/p>\n<p>Up at Snow Hill, King George III in green bronze looked out from his seat on a pawing horse over the Great Park, where the Long Walk ran arrow-straight between newly mown verges towards the distant towers and battlements of Windsor Castle nearly three miles away. Back south through the woods and down beside the wide empty polo field, and a final saunter through hilly Valley Gardens and along the tree-lined banks of Virginia Water, that vast man-made lake, in a blue simmering haze of heat so arcadian I might just have dreamed the whole walk up. <\/p>\n<p>Start &#038; finish: Savill Gardens car park, Englefield Green, Berks TW20 0XD (OS ref SU 977707)<br \/>\nGetting there: Train (www.thetrainline.com; www.railcard.co.uk) to Egham (2\u00bd miles). Road: Savill Gardens (car park: about \u00a35 cash) signposted from A30 (M25 Jct 13)<br \/>\nWalk (7\u00bd miles, easy grade, OS Explorer 160): Start with circuit of Savill Gardens (adult \u00a38.50, senior \u00a37.95, child 6-16 \u00a33.75, family of 4 \u00a321; includes leaflet map). Return to car park; leaving Savill Building, left (north) along tarmac track. In 300m, ahead past \u2018No Cycling\u2019 notice (977710). In 400 m, left past end of Cow Pond. Left on track from pond\u2019s left (west) edge; in 300 m, right (972715) up tarmac drive. In half a mile pass pink lodge (976722); through gates (press button); over Spring Hill to equestrian statue on Snow Hill (967727). Left (south) on grassy ride for \u00bd mile into trees. In 250 m, 7 tracks meet (967717); left on gravel path bisecting 2 tarmac drives. In 400 m, at 5-way junction (971715), right on gravel path; on beside Smith\u2019s Lawn for 1 mile. Just before bridge over Virginia Water, bear left (966695; \u2018Lakeside Walk\u2019). Follow along shore for 1\u00bd miles; left past Totem Pole (980696); follow \u2018Savill Gardens\u2019 to car park.<\/p>\n<p>Lunch: Savill Building restaurant (01784-485402)<br \/>\nMore info: <a href=\"http:\/\/theroyallandscape.co.uk\">theroyallandscape.co.uk<\/a>; <a href=\"http:\/\/thecrownestate.co.uk\/windsor\">thecrownestate.co.uk\/windsor<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Breast Cancer Care\u2019s Pink Ribbon Walk:<br \/>\n0870-145-0101; <a href=\"http:\/\/www.pinkribbonwalk.org.uk\">www.pinkribbonwalk.org.uk<\/a>: Marble Hill Park, London, 16 June<br \/>\n<A HREF=\"http:\/\/www.ramblers.org.uk\/\">www.ramblers.org.uk<\/A> <A HREF=\"http:\/\/www.satmap.com\/\">www.satmap.com<\/A> <A HREF=\"http:\/\/www.LogMyTrip.co.uk\/\">www.LogMyTrip.co.uk<\/A><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Gentlemen in cream linen jackets and white hats, ladies in floral dresses fluttered by the solitary zephyr to stir a baking hot summer morning in the southern end of Windsor Great Park.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-509","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-walks","category-3-id","post-seq-1","post-parity-odd","meta-position-corners","fix"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.christophersomerville.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/509","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.christophersomerville.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.christophersomerville.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.christophersomerville.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.christophersomerville.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=509"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.christophersomerville.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/509\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.christophersomerville.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=509"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.christophersomerville.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=509"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.christophersomerville.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=509"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}