Some kids are lucky and get to have a tree house or something in the garden to play with.  If you are a member of the royal family and the child of Queen Victoria, things are a little bit more extreme.  The Swiss Cottage in the grounds of Osborne House is quite something.  Here the royal children got to play all sorts of pretend.  I’m sure they had plenty of staff to make sure things worked out the way they wanted.

The house itself is good enough for anyone to live in.  The interior is fitted out to provide any sort of entertainment you might want.  Now it is also a museum of various artifacts from the household.  Some of these are rather suspect items to a modern eye.  Things that were taken from conquered countries and clothing from someone killed in battle make for a slightly uncomfortable viewing.

The grounds around the cottage are also interesting.  There is a fort that was built by one of the princes.  I think by looking at it that the prince had no real effort in building it.  Some military staff were apparently roped in to this process.  This fort looks a lot more impressive than the average fort a kid might make.  This is not cardboard boxes and sofa cushions.