Day 2: Take a Stroll
Today, explore some of the countryside surrounding Windsor. There are plenty of possible walks but this 15km loop combines pretty villages and parkland. Start in Home Park (off Romney Lock Road), which runs alongside the Thames. Part of the Crown Estate, the park is Windsor’s main sports field; it’s also home to the annual Royal Horse Show.
Walk around the perimeter of the park to enter Datchet; in Tudor and Stuart times this village was home to royal courtiers and rich London merchants. Follow the Thames, which snakes south, crossing it at Southlea Road. Continue into Old Windsor, the oldest Saxon Town in Berkshire and the seat of Edward the Confessor.
Walk through the town and follow the road to Bishop’s Gate Road, which leads to the Bishop’s Gate entrance to Old Windsor Wood. Head west to the Copper Horse, a statue of George III on horseback, commissioned by his son George IV.
The statue marks the southern end of the Long Walk; stroll down this 4.26km avenue, which unrolls like a (thigh-achingly long) red carpet to the George IV entrance of Windsor Castle, often passing herds of velvet-antlered deer en route.
Finish by resting your feet at the Two Brewers, a cosy 17th-century pub just by the castle gates. Try the crab cakes!
