Langton House Blog

I was on a flight recently flying in to Canada on a Canadian airline.

The flight had been a little rough, but nothing to really make a mention of, but when we landed (and not a difficult landing at all), the plane erupted in applause for the flight crew.

I had to laugh, lucky for me the flight deck had accomplished their job and got us down in one piece. How many of those clapping would have booed them if we had crashed! I for one would had sat there in the flames and booed my head off!

We went here the other night with a couple of friends and thoroughly enjoyed our time there. It is a lovely informal restaurant but the level of food is very high. The problem with Windsor is there are lots of very good restaurants and competition is very high, so I can quiet happily be very picky on the finer points!

My expectations were very high, and although the meal I had was not quite of the quality I expected, overall it was a very good meal. My Rib Eye steak was fairly chewy (more fat than I thought was to be expected), but the fillet was perfect as was the pork special. The Tiramisu was again not up to my expectations as they had tried to improve on the traditional recipe and added nuts and orange, and as I am VERY picky on this my favourite desert, I have to score them down on this. The triple chocolate did however look fantastic! Overall we really enjoyed it and would recommend to others.

There was a parade for the 2nd Batallion of the Coldstream Guards after there recent return from operational duties in Afganistan.

It was a fantastic event with some great support from the locals in Windsor lining the parade route. By the time they had marched up to the castle there were thousands of people cheering our boys! I was very proud to be British and see the support the Army were being given.

Whatever anyone thinks of the reasons for our troops being in Iraqi or  Afghanistan, it has nothing to do with the fact that we should support our troops and the job they  are doing. It is the politicians who have put them there and they have no choice in the matter. If anyone disagrees with them being there they should take it out on the people who put them there, not the guys themselves.

Well Done to all the Army and well done to the people of Windsor for showing their support.

I recently took a quick trip abroad travelling from Stansted Airport. Because of the time of the flight my friend and I decided to stay in a (very) cheap local hotel, why I”m not too sure as it’’s the sort of place I normally RUN from, but my friend suggested it and I went along with it.

We actually arrived at  Stansted by coach from Windsor, although cheaper than the train it took hours due to the time we were on the road - Friday evening traffic - it reminded me why I don”t bother driving into London!

From the airport we booked a cab to the hotel from their taxi reservation desk, which was very efficient. We also booked our return to the airport for a 5.15 am pickup…. ho hum!

So we walked out, jumped into our cab and off we went. On the way we were discussing whether we should actually get a slightly earlier cab so as we were getting out at the hotel we asked our driver if he could change our pickup time.

His reply just made me burst out laughing, he said “No, because it won”t do me any favours!” I could not believe it, he worked for an organisation where they were all in contact with the booking system, they had logo”d up cars and although he was obviously self employed, he was in no mood to do the slightest thing to help us unless he had some personal gain in it!

My instant reply to him was “yes, I agree with you, it will not help you but it would help us”, he mumbled something and drove off.  We rebooked our cab ourselves!

Let’’s just hope our taxi friend had a better end to his day as I”m guessing it must have been a rough day up to that point. Personally I just loved his reply, short, to the point and totally truthful.

Ahh, another year dawns and its a brief respite here at the B&B before we are off and fully running again. The December and January months are the quietest for us and it gives me a chance to do a bit of painting and fixing.

This also gives me a chance to thank all of our guests in 2007, we have enjoyed your company and  in fact there were a remarkable number who I really enjoyed having a chat with over breakfast or at check in.

Remember, if you have an interesting job or pastime, why not TELL me about it, don”t wait for me to find out, after all, I can”t interrogate ALL my guests to find  out what makes them tick!

Lets hope 2008 is a good year for everyone. In particular I hope that there is major progress in Iraq and Afghanistan,  that the current problems in Kenya resolves itself peacefully and we can find a more peaceful resolution within ALL the religions of the worlds. Not too much to ask for I know, but I”m a realist and like to look at the positive things in life.

All the best to everyone in 2008

Paul

At long last the Great Park is open to everyone again. There have been no more outbreaks of foot and mouth an everything is back to normal. It was a real shame as it did stop several big events from being held in the park, like the Windsor half marathon and the Legoland 10K run.

We also lost bookings because of this as I”m sure other places did. So it did have an effect on Windsor although not a major one.

I have just had a fascinating talk with Rita Dunne, who was trying to book up to stay with us (unfortunately we were full) because her grandmother was born in Langton House! She tells me that her grandmother was born in 1881 and in those days the house was called The Ferns (few houses had numbers at that time). At this time it was a private house.

I am hoping that when Rita stays in Windsor she will call in as she has some old photos of the house as well as helping me fill in a few more details.

Well in due course Rita did in fact call in. She had discovered a few more facts, unfortunately her grandmother was not born here but she did live her. She gave me a few copies of pictures taken outside the front of the house with her grandmother and her mother as a baby.

The front wall had iron railings which have long since disappeared. This in itself is an interesting story as during the war all the railings across England were removed as part of the war effort to use the raw materials for bombs - in fact most of the iron was unusable and was just dumped, but thats why as you walk around the streets in most towns you see low walls with no railings!

Well as summer draws to a close, it is already starting to feel like autumn and its not even the end of August yet. After last years drought this year was so wet it has almost seemed as if we have had no summer at all. I guess in Windsor we are lucky that there is plenty to do whatever the weather. It was obviously harder for the Legoland visitors - if they picked a particularly wet day it must have been awful, there can be nothing worse than upset wet kids!

But still Langton House had a very busy summer. We have been full most of the time and have really enjoyed meeting all our guests. As usual it was great to see some of the more familiar faces who have been before, but equally good to meet new people.

At last after many years living in Windsor I have at last made it to the Windsor Horse Show. The show has been described by the Queen herself as, “my Horse Show”, and with her attendance every year, it really is her event.

As I went into the show my first thought was how big it was. I never really expected it to be quite as large, covering more ground than I was able to walk in the time I had.

The main arena is the obvious focus point for the show. There were many events going on it seemed all day long. I was just in time to see the world famous White Helmets motorcycle display team from the Royal Signal Corps. For a totally none horse event there was a packed crowd watching a stunning display that I remember last seeing when I was a very young boy walking around the Aldershot Army Show.

Next up was the Shetland Pony Grand National. A fantastic fun event, where the children racing these beautiful little animals really took it seriously. No quarter asked or given!

There was a lot to see outside the main arena with a couple of other show areas. I saw the carriage driving event, which is mainly out in the park but comes into the event area for a tight and twisty obstacle course that was truly amazing to watch these horse drawn carriages zooming about in such a small area. Excellent and captivating to watch. Prince Philip has long been an avid carriage driver and has participated in this event for many years, and yet again he was in this years event, although I did not personally see him this time, I have actually seen him training out in the Great Park on many occasions.

A tented shopping area with more things for you and your horse than I even knew existed. The colourful pink flowery horse coat took my eye, but for all the wrong reasons. I only hope the horse that goes into that has no issues with his/her sexuality!

There were jewellery stands, coats stands, photo stands and a food court.

Loads of food stands were all around the show, so no excuse for getting hungry. The only problem was finding somewhere to sit and eat.

Many years ago the show was held in the public area of the Home Park. But after a particularly rainy show the ground was so chewed up by horses and vehicles the council had to spend thousands of pounds and no end of time to return it to the use of the rugby pitches.

Would I go again? Definitely YES. But next time I will make sure I have more time there and the sun must be shining to get the most out of it.

We recently had Mr Dunscombe come to stay with us at Langton House. As he was checking in he informed me that he was actually BORN in Langton House! Although he can”t actually remember the event (!) he is reliably informed that in 1946 he was born here. He lived around the corner in his formative years and remembers much about the local area. It was an honor to meet him and I was just so glad that he stayed here and at least let us know a tiny bit more about the history of Langton House.