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You are here: Home > Ideas & Inspiration > Top Ideas > Top Tips for Spring
Welcome to spring in the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead. We’ve broken the back of winter and the longer days are very much welcome! Thoughts can turn to filling the lighter days by visiting attractions or attending events in the Windsor area, planning some cosy short breaks, celebrating Mother's Day and breathing a sigh of relief as those clocks go forward to mark the beginning of British Summertime!
Buy attraction and event tickets online through the Windsor online shop or visit the Royal Windsor Information Centre in person for the local lowdown and tickets for many things to see and do! If you are coming to the Windsor area during March, April or May, here are our top tips to enjoy spring in Windsor and the Royal Borough.
Looking for some atmosphere when you are watching the RBS Six Nations? Rugby in the Brewery returns to the Windsor & Eton Brewery and you can join them for every England game. No need to book – just turn up on the day – but do arrive in good time as their capacity is 200 people at which point admission will close.
Spring sees our glorious parks and gardens coming alive with colour.
Every spring the gardens at National Trust Cliveden are a delight to behold.
It’s the second year of Cliveden's daffodil-spectacular: 'Gilded Gardens'! Hundreds of thousands of narcissi will be springing up across the estate and rolling displays of 60 rarer, pot-grown varieties will be on display in the Ferneries.
The namesake, ‘Gilded Gardens’, is inspired by the 23¾ carat gold leaf gilded gates on the South Terrace, inside which a display of rarely seen daffodil varieties fill large terracotta pots on tiered stands. Visit the estate, located in Maidenhead, Berkshire, throughout March and April, any day from 10am to 5.30pm, to see the spectacle unfold.
The six-acre Parterre bursts at the seams with spring bedding plants, filling the 16 central triangular beds. In the Long Garden you'll discover a carpet of colour inside the box hedging, whilst topiary, statuary and herbaceous borders line the outside of this unique and unusual garden.
In the oriental inspired Water Garden, you’ll spot dusky pinks of flowering blossom and creamy-white magnolias forming picture perfect reflections in the lakes below. From May there’ll be 2,000 pale blue Camassia leichtlinii in bloom, adding more glamour to this already gorgeous garden.
Take a walk beyond the Grade I listed gardens at Cliveden and you’ll find yourself surrounded in a woodland escarpment. As you wander through these magnificent ancient woodlands this spring, a beautiful bluebell bounty will slowly begin to appear.
The Savill Garden has earned its reputation as one of the finest woodland gardens in the country - not because it is the biggest woodland garden or that it has the largest collection of plants, but for a combination of all of these elements.
Its ability to keep adapting to its landscape environment provide a great balance of design, colour and texture. Visit throughout the seasons and you will see there is always something new to discover.
In exceptional years spring can begin as early as late February with the appearance of breathtaking Magnolias, or it might be as late as April before we see the drifts of Crocus followed by thousands of dwarf daffodils in the Alpine Meadow. Generally, visit from the middle of March onwards and you will be rewarded with a host of floral interest.
March
• Spring Wood comes alive
April
• Carpets of Crocus and dwarf daffodils
• The Garden is awash with our National Collection of Magnolias and award winning Rhododendrons
• Stunningly beautiful flowering Japanese Cherries
• RHS Spring Ornamental Competition: 04-05 April 2020 (see www.windsorgreatpark.co.uk/rhs for full details)
• Carpets of Crocus and dwarf daffodils
May
• Special woodland wonders including: Trilliums, Erythroniums and Primulas
• Dazzling Azaleas
Take a look at our website to see what is in flower. Visit www.windsorgreatpark.co.uk/seasons
Looking for a gorgeous gift for your mother on Mother's Day? Browse our shopping pages and be inspired by some of the great shops in the Windsor and Maidenhead area – including many superb independent stores – and bag that perfect present.
Peruse our food and drink pages for the best place to treat her to lunch or dinner, or perhaps an elegant Afternoon Tea is the way to her heart? Take a look at our Mother's Day Special Offers too.
And of course there are plenty of great things to do, however she likes to relax with family.
In March the gates of LEGOLAND® Windsor Resort are flung open for the new season. Take to the road, soar through the skies and sail the seas in complete safety. Prepare yourself for over 55 interactive rides, attractions, live shows, building workshops and driving schools, not to mention a staggering 80 million LEGO® bricks, set in 150 acres of beautiful parkland.
NEW FOR 2020: LEGOLAND Windsor Resort welcomes you aboard the world’s first DUPLO coaster, set in the heart of the bigger and even better DUPLO Valley - opening midday on Saturday 14th March! Take your seat upon the DUPLO brick Dinosaur and hold on tight as you soar round the Park. This dinosaur themed delight is the perfect first rollercoaster experience for little explorers and even grown-ups too!
In the tiny former Methodist Chapel in the pretty riverside town of Cookham, discover the wonderful art of the characterful Stanley Spencer. The Stanley Spencer Gallery has two exhibitions a year and the summer exhibition launches in March. Why not visit this hidden gem for yourself?
It’s good to be prepared for when you get asked ‘What are we going to do TODAY?’ Whatever the weather we have some great ideas for indoor and outdoor activities.
Will it be splashing down into the River Thames on the Windsor Duck or cycling through Windsor Great Park? Bouncing the morning away at Jump In Trampoline Arena or getting lost in the Cliveden Maze?
Check out our Ideas and Inspiration section and get planning and look at our Easter Offers too!
Flat racing returns to Royal Windsor Racecourse with the season opener in April and Windsor’s course is unique – it’s on an island in the Thames and is shaped like a figure of eight! It’s famed for Monday evening meetings April to October as well as themed racedays with plenty of family entertainment.
Ascot Racecourse’s racing calendar includes flat and jumps racing year round. Enjoy a family countryside day at the end of March – the final jumps meeting of the season – then celebrate the start of the flat season in April.
Come down to the Long Walk to celebrate The Queen's birthday and to watch a 21-gun salute with a difference – 21 mini cannons fired under the expert eye of the borough bombardier! Some lucky children will get chosen from the crowd to fire a cannon.
May sees Royal Windsor Horse Show, the UK’s largest premier outdoor horse show at Windsor, set in the private grounds of Windsor Castle. Enjoy international show jumping, dressage and carriage driving and a whole host of national classes too.
There are numerous exciting displays such as the Shetland Pony Grand National and the skill of the King’s Troop Royal Horse Artillery. Peruse the retailers’ stalls in the shopping village for that perfect purchase.
This May's Royal Windsor Horse Show features a special evening Pageant to celebrate the Edwardian Era and particularly the reign of King Edward VII (affectionately known as Bertie). During his short reign there were a large number of achievements. He also had strong interest in racing. More information about the content of the evening will be available shortly but it will include equestrian displays, music (including a small orchestra), mass pipes and drums and much more.
Will it be Windsor Festival's Spring Festival - a Lenten feast of glorious music – or celebrating the 80s at Let’s Rock the Moor? Visit our Festivals page for inspiration.
One of our ‘hidden gems', fascinating and historic Dorney Court opens its doors to the public for five days in May. It’s widely regarded as one of England’s finest Tudor manor houses and has been lived in by the Palmer Family for almost 500 years.
Enjoy the house and the garden then pop to nearby Dorney Court Kitchen Garden for refreshments. Dorney Lake (venue for London 2012 rowing and canoeing) is a stone’s throw away with beautiful grounds in which you can enjoy a walk or a picnic.
Frogmore House and Garden is a charming royal retreat located in Windsor Castle's Home Park. The house dates from the 1680s and was a favourite place for Queen Victoria and Prince Albert. Every spring The Queen gives permission for Frogmore to open to individual visitors for just three days in aid of three individual charities, therefore a visit to Frogmore is something special and you will be contributing to a good cause! 2020 May openings are yet to be confirmed.
There’s so much to see and do in the area, why not stay a few nights? Visit our accommodation pages to discover a huge range of accommodation options to suit all budgets, from five star spa retreats to cosy and comfortable bed and breakfasts and self-catering apartments.
Search What’s On for all the latest event information.
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