Virginia Water - the lake and other Virginia Water, United Kingdom Things to Do Tips

The lake at Virginia Water is a popular destination in the summer time (and indeed all year). You will frequently see people picnicing on the banks, walking round the lake or in the woods around. Officially the park is part of Windsor Great Park, but most people think of it as being an entity in its own right.

The lake is pretty large (it is a 4.5 mile [7.5 km] walk around it). An interesting story is that it was drained during World War II. Not because the water was needed for any particular purpose, but it was a good landmark for enemy aircraft that were flying over to drop bomb to get their bearings by.

These days Virginia Water is famous for its Totem Pole and the fact it has been used to film at least 2 Harry Potter films.

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Address: Surrey, near Wentworth Golf Course

This Totem Pole comes from Canada. It was given to Queen Elizabeth the Second by the people of British Columbia to show their loyalty and affection and to preserve the memory of the Centenary of British Columbia between 1858 and 1958. That makes this totem pole almost 50 years old, so it isn't in bad condition.

This totem pole was erected at Virginia Water by the Royal Engineers (they are part of the British Army) in June 1958. As it is 30 metres high (approx 100 feet) and weighs 21 tonnes, this was probably no trivial achievement!

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Address: Surrey, near Wentworth Golf Course

A Totem Pole is native art from the indigenous peoples of North America (frequently [and incorrectly] referred to as Indians). A Totem Pole is supposed to represent the family tree of a tribe. The ornately carved figures are to show the mythical ancestors of the tribe that carved it.

This totem pole was carved by Chief Mungo Martin who is from the Kwakiutl people who live along the coast line of Vancouver Island and British Columbia.

The pole itself is the trunk of a 600 year old, red cedar tree. If you look carefully, you may see the following figures: A man with a large hat, A Beaver, An Old Man, A Thunderbird, A Sea Otter, A Raven, A Whale, A Double-headed Snake, A Halibut Man and a Cedar Man. But don't ask me what all of these things are supposed to be!

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Address: Surrey, near Wentworth Golf Course

Anyone who has watched the masters Golf drom Augusta (in the USA) will be familiar with what Azaleas look like. Rhododendrons are a closely related family too. Virginia water has a large number of both types of plants in one of its gardens. Azaleas are typically small shrubs with smaller flowers. Rhododendrons have bigger flowers and grow to the height of a small tree if left unchecked.

Rhododendrons are not that popular these days as they grow at a terrific pace and choke out plants underneath them. However when they flower, they do look very good.

There are several gardens which are all full of Azaleas in Virginia Water, and this picture shows one of my favouriote views.

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Address: Surrey, near Wentworth Golf Course

This picture probably shows the plant equivalent of a human organ transplant. Some trees are well considered for their looks, but are well known to have a 'genetic' weakness in a particular area. A classic example would be that their roots are poor, and so the tree does not grow as well as it could, and will die young. A rather bizarre way around this is to take another tree of a completely different species but of a similar size. Chop the roots off both of them, and then splice the roots of the 'donor' tree onto the body of the 'pretty' tree. If this is done well and the two parts are kept squashed toegther for a while, they will often graft and the roots will bond to the tree and will grow and provide the 'pretty' with a better set of roots than it would have had itself. The other advantage of this method is that a 'cutting' can be taken from a very good example of a nice tree (a cutting is the end of branch, such as a twig). This can then be spliced to the roots of a small tree and grown from there. This leaves the original nice tree in pristine condition, but reproduces it in a small plant.

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Virginia Water has an old folly, but this is not your usual folly (a folly is a building or part of a building that is built for no purpose whatsoever, and can look a bit ornate). This folly is authentic Roman Ruins. The Ruins themselves aren't even from England. They were acquired in the 19th Century from their original location in the Roman city of Leptis Magna which is very close to where Tripoli in Libya is today.

The ruins were first taken to the British Museum in London where they stayed for some years, before an architect 'rebuilt' them alongside the lake at Virginia Water.

Apologies, I have mislaid my photo, hopefully another to follow soon!

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Address: Surrey, near Wentworth Golf Course

The third movie of Harry Potter (The Prisoner of Azkaban) had some of the filming shot at Virginia Water. See the following website for more details: http://www.zanzaro.com/azkaban/aug14.htm. Not only this, some of the fourth movie was also shot here too, see: http://www.veritaserum.com/movies/movie4/locations/virginiawater.shtml and http://www.zanzaro.com/goblet/2004/11/goblet-of-fire-filming-in-virginia.html

I'm not actually sure whether they used the Totem Pole, or whether it is just a scenic location with a good carpark and easy access.

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Canadian Maple. This picture shows the seed pods together with some newly grown leaves on a Canadian Maple. A Maple is a deciduous tree, which means it loses its leaves every autum time (unlike the tropics where there aren't any seasons to speak of, Britain has winters which are cold and summers which are hot, and inbetween times for both. Leading up to winter, a lot of the trees lose all of their leaves, and then grow them again leading up to summer).

The seeds of a maple will fall off, and the design is such that they spin down to the ground like a helicopter in flight meaning the seeds can travel much further than if they just fell down to the ground.

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Address: Surrey, near Wentworth Golf Course

This is a bench that has been hewn out of a log.

Virginia Water is basically a lake with a wood around it (officially it is part of Windsor Great Park). With so many trees about, some inevitably fall or have to be felled. But cutting a big chunk out of a big log, you basically end up with a decent bench, and don't need to move the fallen tree. A good form of recycling!

There are quite a lot of these log benches all around the lake. As Virginia Water is very popular for picnics, these benchs are often in use.

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A Pheasant is a game bird. This doesn't mean it is up for a bit of fun, but rather (and much more unpleasantly for it), it is a bird that is used for shooting at by the more blue-blooded Englishmen.

Pheasants are quite attractive birds to look at (the male ones in particular), and the one in this picture standing next to an Azalea bush in flower is a male bird. However just because pheasants are game, I would not try shooting one at Virginia Water (unless you are the Queen - or more likely Prince Philip!). Whilst I did not see any signs saying no firearms, you can rest assured that guns are most certainly not tolerated.

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Address: Surrey, near Wentworth Golf Course