London

Recovered from the flight and our botanic gardens overload, we kicked off in London with a visit to Windsor.

Along with quite a few others, we caught the train to Windsor and Eton Central Station and walked the hundred-or-so metres to the castle entrance.

The mood was quite festive, with people spilling out of cafes and even a band playing. We thought it might have been the Band of the Grenadier Guards or something, but it turned out they were from… North Dakota.

Once inside, and having the obligatory snap with some guy’s vintage Rolls Royce, we donned our audio guides and toured the very swish Royal Apartments. The audio guide content was excellent, but unfortunately didn’t run in the same sequence as the tour; that was okay, as the relevant item number for the guide of displayed in every room - but right near the exit, so you sort of found out about what you had just seen on a time delay.

As we proceeded from room to room, the crowds mysteriously began to thin out: the changing of the guard was taking place. So we duly joined the others and took a blurry picture of some bearskins behind a sea of mobile phones thrust majestically skyward.

The other highlight of a great day at Windsor was Queen Mary’s Dolls House. Sadly, there are no photos, but any dolls house with running water and electricity, miniature books you can read and miniature records you can actually play has got to be worth a look.

The following day found us initially at Borough Market, where we wandered past all sorts of yummy and exotic comestibles.

Then it was down to the Thames for a walk down to and across the Tower Bridge and a visit to the Tower of London.

It was very hot, and twenty minutes of queueing in the sun to have a look, with a hundred other people, at the Crown Jewels was a bit wearing. They are pretty impressive, though.

We also quite enjoyed the White Tower and a walk along the Battlements, before heading back for some all-important liquid refreshments.

That was about it for a short visit to London; we are next heading north to Moreton-in-Marsh and some time in the Cotswolds.Read more