It is easy to see Windsor Castle as just a castle: but behind the Royal family is an army of workers who keep its extensive estates in immaculate condition.

The most closely involved are offered a house on the Crown Estate: and there are enough houses on the Windsor Forest estate to necessitate a village shop and post office (which serves cream teas to visitors) school, chapel and social club.

The setting is an anglophile’s dream: rolling green lawns, a glassy lake, trees dating back centuries: and an opportunity to stop for an ice cream in Her Majesty’s back garden.

But any commoner can walk past the pink grace-and-favour houses and the gatehouse into this world within a world. There is no charge: but you might like to take a stout pair of walking boots.

Find further details at the Crown Estate’s Windsor website here.