A Great Park at Windsor, September 2010

How have I managed to live 15 miles away for four and a half years and not visit Windsor Great Park? Maybe it's the part of me that prefers to find my own new places rather than visit well-know spots! Luckily, Heather has been horseriding there over the last few months and persuaded me to make a couple of trips...and it's well worth the visit.

North along the Long Walk to Windsor Castle, September 2010

Covering 5000 acres, the park - which was, for many centuries, the private hunting reserve of the Royals at Windsor Castle - in any case provides plenty of scope for getting away from everyone else, although it's a little more busy in the south, around The Royal Landscape of Virginia Water, Savill Gardens and Valley Garden (map here). My first two visits have concentrated on exploring the western central area of the park from Bishopsgate (OS grid ref. SU 977722), as far east as Snow Hill - a tremendous viewpoint - and the start of the Long Walk up to the Castle and also south to the Cow Pond.

Fly Agarics, in woodland south of Bishopsgate

Bonus: it's fungi season. The park is stuffed full of bright and brown mushrooms; I must admit to some ignoring of the latter these days, they just take too long to identify! Out in the deer pasture towards Snow Hill, delicious Parasol Mushrooms the size of dinner plates hover above the grass. Walking south from Bishopsgate towards the Cow Pond, my planned walk takes a nosedive as I spend way too much time photographing Fly Agarics, Blushers, Blackening Russulas, White Saddles and Common Puffballs amongst others.

Common Puffballs

Eventually, with the sun setting behind the trees, I made it to Cow Pond - a sea of pink waterlillies that must look stunning at the right time of day - too late to get a decent photo (left)!

Heading back to the gate, I snapped a few shots of the sun filtering through the park's amazing trees (like the grove of birches above) and also stumbled across a hidden cache of Blushers in the undergrowth (below). A swift half in the Fox and Hounds pub later, I took the 15 mile journey home, a route I will be retreading back to the park very soon.