Floreat Etona

One very good reason for moving to the Chilterns is that I now live within easy reach of my sister and Windsor is very handily situated at the mid-point between us. A good place to meet for lunch, which is what we did today. (Tapas, since you're asking.)

Visiting Windsor is always dripping with nostalgia for me; it's where I spent much of my time as a teenager but the town has changed almost beyond recognition. Yes, there were tourists then but it was all pretty low key. In the 1960s, you could still wander round the castle precincts free of charge. And I spent hours, days there, sketching, taking photographs and just generally people watching. These days the town is heaving; there are pavement cafés on every cobbled street and the small Victorian station where I used to catch the train home has now been converted into an pedestrian precinct full of (even more) cafés and and shops. The pub that was home to a folk club, a jazz club and a rhythm and blues club has long gone; it's now an M&S.

However, the house that Sir Christopher Wren designed and built for himself looks more or less as it always has done:

 

Just across the bridge that spans the Thames is Eton and although that too has changed - well, nowhere stands still - the change is less obvious, although long-term residents would probably tell a different story.

Eton College is at the top of the High Street but term hasn't started yet, so no tail-coated schoolboys in sight.

Eton still has one remaining secondhand bookshop:

Meanwhile, this building, which dates from 1420, has been through some changes:

 

Originally the Cockpit Inn - once the scene of exactly the grisly business you can assume from the name - by the mid-twentieth century, it had become a much more genteel restaurant and tea room. Now it's an Indian restaurant.

Across the road is the Christopher Bar, formerly the Christopher Hotel, which has been open since 1511 and still boasts a side entrance wide enough to admit horse-drawn carriages. It has rather splendid Victorian tilework:

Eton College has been educating the country's finest (a matter of opinion, of course) for six centuries, has produced 18 British prime ministers and any number of Cabinet ministers and will no doubt produce many more (plus ça change, there being no sign of a revolution on the horizon) as well as educating some of the younger royals. As you would expect from such a well-connected town, even the pillarbox is a cut above the average:

This has always been one of my favourite Eton shopfronts:

C J Reid, pharmacist (by appointment to Windsor's most famous resident) and - er - wine merchant. Yes, go through the main door into the chemist's shop and once you're inside, another door leads to the wine department. It would never win any prizes for window display but sporting, as it does, one of the largest and most splendid royal warrant signs imaginable, it probably doesn't need to worry about having über-chic windows. That sign is almost half the size of the door beneath it. (There's an excellent close-up here. Impressive, eh?)

And pausing here, I must crave your indulgence: 

The rather unprepossessing shopfront belongs to Hills & Saunders, who have been taking official photographs of Eton College pupils since the 1860s. Once upon a time, they also took my wedding photos.

Eton's motto, Floreat Etona ("may Eton flourish" and I've no doubt that it will, without any help from me), gilded and painted, can be seen high on a building, further along the street:

Walking back across the bridge, I noticed something new (well, new to me) on the WIndsor skyline. Although I love the London Eye, which also flanks the Thames, I'm really not sure about this. But visitors love it, apparently.

Comments

[Liz]

Thanks for the tour. This isn't a part of the country I'm familiar with though a school friend of my daughter went to Eton's sixth form (courtesy of a scholarship) and he regularly sent cards with pictures of the college on the front.

[Pamela]

Another lovely nostalgic tour. I remember cycle trips there from North London in my teens.....the homeward ride was not such a breeze.

[Maureen]

What a wonderful guided tour. You strengthen my resolve to explore more of our lovely architectural treasures before they all become Indian restaurants and M&S stores. When one of us gets that camper van, eh?

[Jay]

Oh, it looks lovely! And I do love that letter box!

I've visited Windsor, once or twice, and many years ago, but I've never been to Eton. Now I do want to go, and wander round that lovely town, with all those curiosities and ancient buildings!

[materfamilias]

A charming tour, thank you!

[Rattling On]

We used to live near Windsor and enjoyed visiting there and taking a succession of visitors. Is the Christmas shop still there that's open all year round?
The same thing is happening to buildings in Oxford, each time we return a shop has squeezed into another of the lovely old buildings. They are forced to do minimal signage, but still corporate identity takes it over.

[Lia]

An enjoyable end-of-the-summer visit to Eton from my sofa. Thank you!

[Nan]

Oh, thank you so much. It was like walking alongside you, with no traffic or crowds. Beautiful place, and the sign is amazing. Thanks again.

[colleen]

Those days of being able to explore ancient monuments for nothing are pretty much long gone, though probably for the best I guess.

And you have solved a puzzle. I drove past the wheel yesterday and was totally perplexed as to its location.