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Windsor and Eton [1] are twin towns, in Berkshire, in the South East of England, separated by the River Thames and joined together by Windsor Bridge.
 Windsor Castle and the River Thames from the Brocas Meadows in Eton Windsor is an ancient town most famous for its castle, construction of which began in 1075, and which is the largest and oldest occupied castle in the world. The royal standard flies from the keep of the Castle when the Queen is in residence.
Eton is a rather smaller town, largely dominated by Eton College, the ancient public (US English:private) school which educates many of England's establishment (especially those who go on to become politicians, judges and diplomats).
[edit] Get in
[edit] By plane
Windsor and Eton is well served by London's collection of airports and actually under the flight-path of Heathrow. For travellers coming directly to Windsor, the most convenient (in reducing order of convenience) are:
- Heathrow Airport is about 8 miles drive straight down the M4 (westbound) motorway. Alternatively the First Berkshire bus route 77 connects Heathrow Central Bus Station and Windsor every half hour taking about 45 minutes.
- Gatwick Airport is about a hours drive away via the M23 (northbound), M25 (clockwise) and M4 (westbound) motorways. With no through train or bus service, your best bet by public transport is to take the train into London and then follow the directions under Get In By Train below.
- Stansted Airport is about 90 minutes drive away via the M11 (southbound), M25 (anti-clockwise) and M4 (westbound) motorways. With no through train or bus service, your best bet by public transport is to take the train into London and then follow the directions under Get In By Train below.
[edit] By train
In Windsor and Eton there are two railway stations [2] (08457 48 49 50). Both stations are within walking distance of each other and Windsor Castle. Assuming that you will be coming from London the choice of which route to use probably comes down to how far from Waterloo and Paddington stations you will stay. Depart from the nearest.
- From London Waterloo take any train to Windsor & Eton Riverside (two per hour, journey time approximately 1 hour).
- From London Paddington or Reading take any train to Slough. Change at Slough for the connecting rail service to Windsor & Eton Central.
[edit] By bus
- From London (Buckingham Palace Road, Victoria): Greenline [3] coach 700/701/702 (journey time approximately 1 hour).
[edit] By car
Windsor is served by the M4 motorway (US English:freeway) which runs from London to Bristol and South Wales. It is about an hour's drive from central London. The best junction to use is J6.
Park and ride facilities are available at 2 sites, see National Park and Ride Directory
[edit] Get around
If you are planning to do any visiting or exploring beyond central Windsor and Eton, you will probably want to obtain a decent map of the area. You should ensure that any map you buy clearly shows the national grid reference lines, and explains how to use them, as grid references are frequently used to indicate out of town locations. For driving or cycling, Ordnance Survey [5] Landranger 175 (scale 1:50000) covers Windsor and to the west, including all the places mentioned below except Runnymede and Ordnance Survey Landranger 176 (scale 1:50000) covers the area to the east, including Runnymede. For walking, Ordnance Survey Explorer 160 (scale 1:25000).
[edit] By foot
Neither Windsor nor Eton is desperately large and walking is a good way around the central area. For example it will take you no more than 15 minutes to walk from Eton College Chapel to Windsor Castle. Several streets, including Windsor Bridge and Peascod Street (the main shopping street) are pedestrianised. Short walk in central Windsor using map with pop-up images
[edit] By bus
Windsor has a reasonable bus service, both within the town and to the surrounding area, although frequencies can be quite low with little service in the evenings or on Sunday.
- First Berkshire, telephone 524144, provides most bus services in the area.
- Traveline, telephone 087-608-2-608 from within the UK, provide an impartial online travel planner and telephone query service for all local bus services.
[edit] By car
Neither Windsor nor Eton is big enough to get really congested, although traffic delays can be severe on summer weekend mornings and evenings, when Legoland is popular, and on evenings when there is horse-racing at Windsor racecourse. One issue that you may find in driving around Windsor and Eton is that Windsor Bridge is for pedestrians only. To get between Windsor and Eton requires you to drive out to the Windsor by-pass, cross the river on that, then go most of the way into Slough before taking the old Windsor Road from that town back into Eton; it is easily quicker to walk.
[edit] Central Windsor and Eton
These places to see are all within the central area of Windsor or within Eton just across Windsor Bridge. They are all within easy walking distance of each other, the main shopping center and both railway stations.
- <see name="Windsor Castle" alt="" address="" directions="" phone="+44 (0)20 77667304" email="bookinginfo@royalcollection.org.uk" fax="" url="http://www.royal.gov.uk/output/Page557.asp" hours="Daily (for exceptions see website) 9:45am-5:15pm (4.15pm Nov-Feb)" price="£8-14.20">The largest and oldest occupied castle in the world and still an official royal residence. Much of the castle, including the magnificent State Apartments and St Georges Chapel are visitable. The apartments are furnished with some of the finest works of art from the royal collection, including paintings by Rembrandt, Rubens, Canaletto and Gainsborough.</see>
- <see name="Changing of the Guard" alt="" address="Windsor Castle" directions="" phone="+44 (0)20 77667304" email="bookinginfo@royalcollection.org.uk" fax="" url="http://www.royalcollection.org.uk/default.asp?action=article&ID=34" hours="Daily or every two days (see website) 11am (arrive early)" price="Free">The guards are stationed at Victoria Barracks and march up to and from the Castle accompanied by the guards band playing traditional military marches as well as popular songs.</see>
- <see name="Guildhall" alt="" address="High Street" directions="by Windsor Parish Church" phone="" email="" fax="" url="" hours="" price="">Built by Sir Christopher Wren, it is famous for its pillars, which were insisted on by the towns burgesses, even though Wren insisted they were unnecessary. To make his point, he built the pillars but ensured a gap was left between them and the roof they apparently support.</see>
- <see name="Windsor Parish Church" alt="" address="High Street" directions="by the Guildhall" phone="" email="" fax="" url="" hours="" price="">St. John The Baptist, built 1822, replaced earlier Church edifices that stood since 1084 on the site, 80 meters from the Henry VIII gate of Windsor Castle. Peter Scheemakers, famous for his sculptures in Westminster Abbey, created a memorial to Topham Foote or Foot, son of Samuel Foote and Arabella Topham Foote, that greets visitors using the High Street entrance. The memorial includes the young man's bust and the Foote crest. A second Scheemakers' memorial honors Topham Foote's mother and her second husband Thomas Reeve. Most tourists consider The Last Supper by Francis Cleyn a must-view. The painting and the frame were fully restored in 2003 under the leadership of Churchwarden Michael Harding. George III gave the painting and frame to Windsor Parish Church after it hung nearly a century in St. George's Chapel in Windsor Castle.</see>
 Eton High Street from Windsor Bridge - <see name="Eton College" alt="" address="Eton" directions="" phone="+44 (0)1753 671177" email="" fax="" url="http://www.etoncollege.com/default.asp" hours="March-early October, see website" price="£3.45-£4.20">See School Yard and the College Chapel (building started in 1441 and one of the finest examples of fifteenth century Perpendicular Gothic architecture). Walk around their extensive playing fields some of which are adjacent to the River Thames. Opening hours vary depending on time of year and school term; see 'Visits to Eton' topic on the Eton College website or see the website above.</see>
[edit] Surrounding Areas
These places to see are a little further out; some are accessible by longer walks, others will require the use of car, bike or public transport.
- <see name="Windsor Great Park" alt="" address="" directions="" phone="" email="" fax="" url="http://www.thecrownestate.co.uk/15_our_portfolio_04_02_16/64_windsor_and_other_traditional_holdings_04_02_07/65_the_windsor_estate_04_02_07/1161_the_windsor_great_park_04_02_07.htm" hours="Daily sunrise-sunset" price="Free">A huge parkland area behind the castle and which includes The Long Walk, which runs from Windsor Castle past Old Windsor's western perimeter to the Copper Horse statue, Virginia Water lake and Savill Gardens (below). Whilst some outer parts of the park are accessible by car, walking shows you more but be aware that from Windsor Castle, down the Long Walk and on to Virginia Water at the far side of the park is 5 miles.</see>
- <see name="Savill Gardens" alt="" address="" directions="within Windsor Great Park 4 miles from Windsor; grid reference SU977707" phone="847518" email="" fax="" url="http://www.savillgarden.co.uk/" hours="Mar-Oct M-Su 10am-6pm, Nov-Feb M-Su 10AM-4PM" price="£5.50 (adults), £5 (seniors), £2.50 (children); these prices apply Apr-May and are discounted at other times of year.">The Savill Gardens are a temperate woodland gardens renowned for its rhododendrons and spring borders.</see>
- <see name="Legoland Windsor" alt="" address="Winkfield Road" directions="2 miles south east of Windsor on the B3022; grid reference SU942745" phone="+44 (0)8705 040404" email="" fax="" url="http://www.legoland.co.uk/" hours="Apr-Oct M-Su 10AM-5PM" price="£18-22 (adult); £17-19 (child)">Strictly for the kids, this is a Lego brick themed amusement park. Accessible by shuttle bus from central Windsor (call number above for details).</see>
- <see name="Runnymede" alt="" address="Windsor Road, Old Windsor" directions="6 miles east of Windsor on the A308; grid reference TQ007720" phone="+44 (0)1784 432891" email="" fax="" url="http://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/places/runnymede/" hours="" price="">Accessible by road or catch First bus 41 (runs approximately every 30 minutes M-Sa only; alight at the Bells of Ouzely pub; see Get Around above for bus company details). Runnymede is an attractive area of riverside meadows, grassland and broad-leaved woodland and rich in flora and fauna; albeit somewhat disturbed by a rather busy road. Perhaps more importantly it was on this site, in 1215, that King John sealed the Magna Carta. Because of its historical connections, Runnymede is the site of several memorials amongst the trees of the slopes of Coopers Hill:</see>
- <see name="Air Forces Memorial" alt="" address="Runnymede" directions="" phone="" email="" fax="" url="" hours="" price="">Commemorates the men and women of the Allied Air Forces who died during the Second World War and records the names of the 20,456 airmen who have no known grave. From the top of the tower visitors can see long views over Windsor, the surrounding counties and, somehow appropriately, aircraft taking off and landing at Heathrow. [6]</see>
- <see name="John F. Kennedy Memorial" alt="" address="Runnymede" directions="" phone="" email="" fax="" url="" hours="" price="">The British memorial to the assassinated US president consists of a Portland Stone memorial inscribed with the famous quote from his inaugural address 'Let every Nationa know, whether it wishes us well or ill, that we shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend or oppose any foe, in order to assure the survival and success of liberty'. Visitors reach the memorial by treading a steep path of irregular granite steps, intended to symbolise a pilgrimage.</see>
- <see name="Magna Carta Memorial" alt="" address="Runnymede" directions="" phone="" email="" fax="" url="" hours="" price="">A domed classical temple built by by the American Bar Association and containing a pillar of English granite on which is inscribed 'To commemorate Magna Carta, symbol of Freedom Under Law'.</see>
It is important to remember in Windsor that it is most definately not a "clone-town". Therefore it does not offer an entirely Shopping Centre based retail experience. It is more based around Peascod Street (the high street), King Edward Court, Thames Street and the Royal Train Station. In this case it has many, many different mixtures of independant fashion botiques such as Michael Chell, Coco, Zobia, etc; and of course large retail chains such as Woolworths, Monsoon and so on. It also has a variety of specialist retailers such as Molton Brown, Hotel Chocolat (extremely tasty handmade chocolate), Havana House Fine Cigar Merchants and Oil and Vinegar to name a few. There a far too many different shops that a visitor can step into, so they are not all named, instead take a walk through the places listed previously and enjoy the atmosphere of one of the most beautiful towns in England.
- <buy name="Windsor Royal Train Station Shopping Centre" alt="" address="Goswell Hill, Windsor" directions="opposite castle, near Windsor & Eton Central railway station" phone="" email="" fax="" url="http://www.windsorroyalshopping.co.uk/" hours="M-Sa 10AM-6PM Su 11AM-5PM" price="">Shops, cafes and restaurants.</buy>
- <buy name="Windsor Royal Farm Shop" alt="" address="Datchet Road, Old Windsor" directions="" phone="+44 (0)1753 623800" email="" fax="" url="http://www.windsorfarmshop.co.uk/" hours="M-Sa 9AM-5PM Su 10AM-4PM" price=""></buy>
- <buy name="King Edward Court Shopping Centre" alt="Brand new shopping complex" address="King Edward Court, Windsor" directions="" phone="" email="" fax="" url="" hours="" price="This brand new concade offers a careful selection of clothes and food. The new offering includes Zara, New Look, Top Shop, H&M and a Waitrose Supermarket"></buy>
- <buy name="Fenwicks" alt="Ladies, up-market fashion and cosmetics store. Also includes a very good cafe." address="10-11 King Edward Court" directions="" phone="" email="" fax="" url="" hours="" price=""></buy>
There are lots of places to eat in and around Windsor & Eton, and a good way to find one is simply to keep your eyes open as you visit. The prices are estimates for a meal including drinks and tips.
- <drink name="Vansittart Arms" alt="" address="Vansittart Road" directions="" phone="" email="" fax="" url="" hours="" price="">Though it does get busy, it has nice outside seating.</drink>
- <drink name="Carpenter's Arms" alt="" address="" directions="near the Guildhall" phone="" email="" fax="" url="" hours="" price="">Very friendly publicans!</drink>
There are many hotels in Windsor, some are right opposite the Castle, but don't expect cheap rooms from them.
[edit] Contact
Windsor's area code (for landline numbers) is +44 1753 when dialled from outside the United Kingdom or 01753 from within.
[edit] Get out
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