A Day in Windsor

Taking the train from Maidenhead to Windsor with GWR gave us a great view of Windsor Castle from Home Park

We picked a beautiful, sunny September afternoon to spend the day in Windsor. There is so much to choose from, you really can't fit it all into one day.

To start with, we opted for a walking tour to get a better feel for the history of Windsor and secret spots of historical significance, giving us a flavour of the town. Paddy McNeill runs Royal Windsor Tours, specialising in military history.

Cambridge Gate: Watching the sentry from Cambridge Gate on the Long Walk

Paddy was a Coldstream Guard, famous for their bearskin hats, vivid red jackets and brisk sentry marches at Windsor Castle. With a thorough knowledge of local history, Paddy gave us a historical context of Windsor Castle and the monarchs who spent time there.

Windsor Royal Station: A great choice of shops near the starting point of the tour

The tour started outside the Windsor Royal Station shopping centre, near the Harte and Garter hotel. The walk goes up to the entrance of the Castle via the Windsor Guildhall, from where you can also visit the Windsor & Royal Borough Museum.

Museum: Windsor & the Royal Borough Museum

Duck Tours outside Windsor Castle

From there, the tour goes to King Henry VIII gate where the Duck Tour passed us, another idea for an interesting tour around Windsor!

King Henry VIII gate: Talking about the carved panels on the gate and what they represent

Then it was onto St Albans Street past the mews where Castle horses are kept and then down Park Street. The view from the Long Walk is always stunning, with the avenue of trees leading up the hill to the famous statue of The Copper Horse, depicting George III on horseback.

Long Walk: the view to The Copper Horse

From the Cambridge Gate outside Windsor Castle on the Long Walk we could see a single sentry on duty and Paddy told us about a day in the life of a Coldstream Guard.

The next part of the walk was down Sheet Street to Victoria Barracks, which has a long and interesting history too, especially in the context of how soldiers and their families lived and how it shaped the town and businesses of Windsor in the early 1900s. The tour takes just over an hour and Paddy delivers his tours with charm and warmth. It made for a very enjoyable start.

From the centre of Windsor, we walked across the bridge to Eton, en route to Eton College. We took a detour at the George Pub, a Windsor & Eton Brewery pub. It has a lovely mix of local families, couples and tourists tasting the deliciously brewed local beer and gins. The food looked delicious, but we weren't ready for a meal yet.

We wandered along the High Street in Eton, stopping to browse at quirky antique shops, gift stores, interior shops and traditional gentlemen's outfitters. It's the perfect place to potter about on a Saturday afternoon and would give any visitor to the area a wonderful flavour of life in a quintessentially English town. The aim was to visit the annual Eton Action Charity Fair, managed by Eton College boys to raise funds for local charities. Stalls and games are hosted and organised by the pupils. We caught the end of it as the last few stalls were packing up and by all accounts it was a very successful fair, with over £39,000 raised at the event in 2018!   

Taking a slow walk back along the High Street, we ventured back into Windsor to have an early evening meal at The Royal Windsor.

Royal Windsor pub: Licenced premises since 1727!

One of the oldest pubs in Windsor, it is located opposite Windsor & Eton Riverside train station, so perfect for a bite to eat on the way into or out of the town centre. Even at 5.30pm it was busy with late afternoon visitors popping in for a drink or early diners ordering delicious food. There's a great range on the menu to choose from plus a big cocktail menu for those on a night out.

Royal Windsor pub lunch: a lovely meal at the Royal Windsor pub

It was a lovely way to spend a day in Windsor and left us with a list of more things to come back for!