The Royal Borough features some beautiful countryside with more than 1,000 acres of National Trust land in the north and 4,800 acres of Crown land in the south. So if you enjoy spending time outdoors here are some suggestions for walking, cycling and a good day out in the Windsor and Maidenhead area.

Ascot

Drive out to Ascot, known the world over, not only for its famous Royal Race Meeting but also for its accompanying display of fashion. It was Queen Anne who in 1711 ordered the races to be transferred from Datchet Meads.

She was a passionate huntress and had a special hunting chariot designed for her in which she would career around the Great Park. Continued Royal Patronage has further increased the popularity of Royal Ascot as a major event in the social calendar.

Windsor Great Park

The park covers 4,800 acres within a 14 mile circumference, parts of which are open to the public. Its present area was determined in the 1360s and was popular with Saxon kings as a hunting forest as it teemed with game. The park is shrouded in mystery and legend. For over 1,000 years the story of Herne the Hunter has been told. His ghost still appears wearing the antlers of a stag, riding a phantom black stallion at the head of a pack of black hounds. He appears to warn of times of trouble and gallops through Windsor Great Park only to disappear in to thin air.

The park today is the perfect place for picnics, walking, cycling and horse riding. Leaflets available at the Royal Windsor Information Centre show those parts of the park open to the public.

The Savill Garden

Within Windsor Great Park, Savill Garden covers some 35 acres and was formalised in 1932 by Sir Eric Savill who, as Deputy Ranger, was responsible for its creation. He called it the “Bog Garden”. Today the garden is well established and is considered to be the finest of its type in the northern temperate region of the world. It is open all year round and there is a stunning new visitor centre (right) containing a large airy restaurant run by Leith’s, a shop offering interesting gifts and a plant centre.

Nearby is Virginia Water, said to be named after Queen Elizabeth I, the Virgin Queen and created by the Duke of Cumberland, son of George II. Here you will find a one hundred-foot tall totem pole weighing twelve tons and an obelisk raised by George II to mark his son’s success at Culloden.

On the northern banks of the lake are Valley Gardens and to the north of these is Smiths Lawn, home to the Guards Polo Club. Polo matches can be enjoyed most days from April to September.

Runnymede

It was here in 1215 that King John sealed the Magna Carta. This charter established the principle of the constitutional monarchy and affirmed the individual’s right to justice and liberty. The American constitution is based on the Magna Carta and to commemorate this the American Bar Association erected a memorial in 1957. This can be seen on the hillside overlooking the water meadows.

Nearby on an acre of ground given to the USA by Her Majesty The Queen is a memorial erected in 1965 to the memory of the assassinated President John F. Kennedy. High on the hill is a memorial erected as a tribute to “the men and women of the Air Forces of the British Commonwealth who lost their lives in the Second World War and who have no known grave”. There are 20,455 names recorded on the stone panels and courtyard.