VIRGINIA WATERS & OLD FOGEYS

I had not heard of Virginia Waters of London, so when Chaitali suggested that we go there for a day, we were excited as, it was unknown and unexplored territory for us. The day began with preparing an enormous picnic. Putting things together, badminton rackets, balls and durries, and what have you!! The kids were full of excitement and were getting their PSP and Legostar II ready for the drive.Virginia waters is located somewhere between Windsor Castle and Ascot-the famous and fashionable Race Course. The Great Park is recorded in Saxon documents as a hunting forest used by monarchs and nobles. As it is adjoining the royal residence of Windsor, it has evolved over the centuries, under the patronage of Kings and Queens.

The Royal Landscape has been developed as an area of recreation over several centuries. The most active period of landscaping took place in the 18th Century, under William Augustus, Duke of Cumberland. He created Virginia Water, and also introduced the new fashion for garden design, with a more natural, picturesque landscape adorned with follies. The Royal Landscape is a thousand acres of landscaped gardens, lakes and woodland, incorporating The Savill Garden, The Valley Gardens and Virginia Water lake. Thomas Sandby, the renowned topographical draughtsman, worked under George III designing the landscape. The farms and forests were expanded by Prince Albert, and much of the tree planting is a legacy of the Victorian era. In the 1930s and 1940 The Savill Garden and Valley Gardens were established.

In 1753, Virginia Water was, the largest man-made body of water in the British Isles
The woodlands surrounding the lake have been continuously planted since the middle of the eighteenth century. As it was close to the royal castle of Windsor and Ascot, the lake was once a place of pageantry and spectacle. The reason was that the Royals would go to Ascot through these gardens. Ascot, as everyone knows has a lot to do with style and fashion and "being seen"!!Ascot incidentally was founded in 1711 and is the world’s most famous racecourse.

We reached and started walking around the lake, which is huge. There was a board for a cascade -which was one-just in name. There was hardly a cascade. The walk was beautiful as it was through the woods. All around there were huge trees and a lot of greenery. The ducks and swans in the lake and the dense forest around us made the walk very pleasant. There were a lot of walkers and we came across a group of people who had two large white birds perched on their shoulders. They were beautiful birds, and suddenly one of them looked at us and said, "Hello". They turned out to be Sulphur crested cockatoo. Those birds talked and also displayed their lovely crests. They went on non stop and kept on repeating words said by us.

As we moved on, we were suddenly surprised to find some ruins right in front of us. It looked like some temple - not a church nor a cathedral, nor any structure of the western world. It was oriental. As we went ahead we could decipher a broken statue , which looked like a statue of the Buddha, with the head damaged. It was an amazing view. There was no plaque or board explaining what exactly it was. Later on I learnt that it was a ‘Roman temple’ built from columns and lintels brought from the ancient city of Leptis Magna in the early 19th century and installed by George IV in 1818. Leptis Magna was also called Neapolis, and was a prominent city of the Roman empire. The original ruins are located in Libya 130 km east of Tripoli, on the coast.

The children were soon tired as the walk was very long and one could not see the end. Kunaal was wanting to climb a tree and we were all trying to locate a tree which he could climb. Soon we came to a grove of trees in an alcove. The trees were tall, but they branched out from a low level. The trees were sort of interlinked and seemed to be the perfect place for Robin hood to hold his meetings and remain hidden from the outside world. Of course, Robin hood never came to Virginia waters. Yet the thought crossed my mind as we had just returned from Nottingham and Sherwood forest, where Robin hood lived and he was fresh in my mind. The trees tempted all of us, and soon enough TNN, Raj, Chaitali, Kunaal, Aaliya and I were all perched up on the trees at different levels. It was funnnn.....

As we neared the end of our walk of about 4.5 miles, we saw a huge totem pole in front of us. It was a towering 100-foot high Totem Pole, which is a gift from the government of British Columbia. This pole was carved from a single log of Wester Red Cedar, from a 600 year old tree from British Columbia. It was presented in 1958 to mark the centenary of British Columbia establishment as a Crown Colony.

Our walk was over and we found place to sit, eat and enjoy. It was a lovely day and some people, of the same ethnicity as us, sitting close to us were trying to fly kites. There were 3 kites and it was interesting to watch, as no one seemed to have the faintest idea of how to fly a kite. There were children running helter skelter, with the big brother shouting at the younger sister, and so on and so forth. Not a single kite flew properly, and when they did, all of them went and got entangled in the branches of one single tree. Soon different tactics were tried to bring the kites down. The boy went on throwing tennis balls at the kite, shouting all the time,"I have got it, I am managing", of course, he was nowhere near it. The father caught the attention of another walker, who gave wise counsel and got so involved in extracting the kite, that I perched myself on a tree trunk and kept watching the "Mission Rescue Kite." After half an hour of trying, the tree was named the "Graveyard of Kites" and then we were all free to return.

Virginia Waters-gave us an exciting, adventurous green and fresh day out in the wilderness, right near the famous City of London. How interesting, picturesque and animated can a place be made, by developing a vast land of woods, water and freedom to breathe fresh air amidst like minded people who love to walk and go out, without great expectations. It made all of us excited enough to monkey around and climb trees, an act which one had not indulged in after leaving the age of the "Twenties."Grand children are a boon, who can make monkeys out of respectable old fogeys.!!