The Royal Borough start the decade celebrating the return of old favourites and embracing new ideas which ensure London’s Country Estate remains on trend.
Exactly 200 years ago, work started on a new space for George IV to receive official guests at Windsor Castle. Newly restored and opened to the public for the first time, Inner Hall leads on to the State Apartments and Semi-State Rooms, Queen Mary’s Dolls’ House (which has also reopened) and the State Entrance hall, a new addition to the visitor route. This is where guests of Her Majesty The Queen are welcomed to Windsor. Look up at the intricately designed ceiling bosses, the work of Francis Bernasconi, the most fashionable stuccoist of the Regency period, who worked at Windsor during the reigns of both George III and George IV.
There is a new display in the Grand Vestibule, where Queen Victoria once welcomed visitors from all over the world and a dedicated Learning Centre and the Castle’s first permanent café in the medieval Undercroft will open during 2020 as part of the ongoing Future Programme.
Fairmont Windsor Park is scheduled to open in the second half of 2020 on the site of the former Savills Court Hotel and Spa, which is being extended, renovated and transformed into a luxury, 210-bedroom hotel. For meetings and events there will 16 rooms including an 800 sqm pillar-free ballroom with capacity for up to 700 guests, access to private terraces and a landscaped garden for outdoor functions. Other facilities will include a 2,500 sqm spa and wellness centre with treatment rooms, a salt room, hammam, Japanese foot spa, indoor lap pool and outdoor vitality pool.
There will be an additional three bedrooms and extended meeting space added at The Royal Berkshire Hotel, due for completion in March 2020.
Chefs in Residence with a collective nine Michelin stars between them head up a mouth-watering fine dining offer at the 2020 Royal Ascot meeting. Celebrated chefs Monica Galetti and Brett Graham make their debut, join existing favourites Raymond Blanc OBE, Simon Rogan and Ollie Dabbous for the biggest Micheline star line-up ever. New restaurants Holyroodhouse and The Veranda at the Winning Post, complete the seventeen restaurants on offer.
Windsor Escape Rooms is opening brand new experiences including the Aztec themed “The Lost Mask Of Tlaloc”, A Bank Heist Room and A Horror Experience.
The LEGOLAND Windsor Resort launches the world’s first DUPLO Dino coaster, a dinosaur themed first rollercoaster experience for little explorers aged 2 – 5 years, set in the heart of the expanded DUPLO Valley. Opens March 2020.
Looking at the trend for Mindfulness and Wellness, The Runnymede-on-Thames Hotel is introducing a Calm and Relax spa experience and launching a plant-based skin treatment range from Botanicals.
Two brand new cruises, exclusively for groups, join the French Brothers portfolio in 2020. Take a river trip from Staines town hall to the walled gardens at Sunbury. Or enjoy a special combined tour learning about Maidenhead’s history including the Air Transport Auxillary, before embarking on a trip including beautiful Cliveden reach and a sumptuous cream tea served onboard.
Meanwhile Foxhills Club & Resort continues to invest in facilities. A state-of-the-art yoga cabin offering 30 different classes, USGA specification floodlit short game area and The Fox dining rooms opened in 2019. Construction is underway on a multi-million-pound country club facility and event organisers can look forward to meeting room upgrades with new technology and furniture, new carpets in the Manor House and plans to resurface and extend the carpark.
With Windsor and Cookham locations, there are two venues to taste the new Bel & the Dragon Gin. It’s smooth and has sustainable credentials as some of the fruit used is Class 2 – i.e. perfectly ripe and delicious, but the wrong shape or colour for supermarket use. Serve it in a big glass, topped with a Mediterranean-style tonic to bring out the herbal side.
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