Parked in the station car park for £6 and set off across the bridge, noticing on the way that the corner plot, given a wash and brush up for the Olympic cycle races, is still boarded up and empty, with the boards to be seen loud and clear at gmaps reference 51.4029097,-0.3429358. Presumably there is an ongoing fight between the council, the heritage crew and the developer about how many stories the new block of flats is to be allowed. It is, after all, a very prominent site, seen by millions of tourists every year and we do want them to take away the right impression of our arrangements for town planning.
The guards at the main entrance had traded down from their army style red great coats to police style black jackets, not so unlike the sort of thing you or I might wear to go hill walking. Apparently the great coats can get a bit hot unless it was really cold, which it was not on this day.
On the way to the royal cabbage patch, we noticed this striking mistletoe which had taken a good grip on one of the cordon fruit trees. The palace grounds generally are infested with the stuff, so perhaps it has some kind of protected status - although I would have thought that it did a fair amount of damage to fruit trees - at the very least drawing the life blood out of the fruits for which they were planted.
Onto to the Tilt Yard café where I took tea with maid of honour. A cake of which I am fond and which BH learned involved potato, despite it looking and tasting more like a variety of cheese cake. A quick Bing confirms cheese cake but fails to confirm potato, so clearly something to check out on the next visit. It seems quite likely that the concession holder running the café is under orders to use some authentic, ancient Tudor recipe, at which time potatoes might have been a fresh off the boat, must use ingredient.
Onto the wilderness where there were plenty of crocuses, some snowdrops, a few winter aconites and a few daffodils. One or two striking beds of cyclamen. Follow-up visit to see the daffodils clearly indicated.
One large swan, clearly brushing up his act for the forthcoming mating season.
Took our picnic on a handy, sunlit bench in the sunken orchard between the privy garden (looking as well as ever) and the sunken gardens proper (not many flowers yet).
Out to come across a gathering of horse rangers, which appeared to be a horsey brand of girl guides with military trimmings. At the Palace, so a pleasant young lady told me, for their annual church parade.
Reference 1: http://psmv3.blogspot.co.uk/2017/06/the-court.html.
Reference 2: http://www.horserangers.com/. Inspection of which reveals that the occasion in question was actually the Founder's Day parade. Lots of pictures on the associated Facebook page and the usual small prize for the reader who manages to find the one that includes us.
Group search key: hch.
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