To build your own Itinerary, click to add an item to your Itinerary basket.
Already saved an Itinerary?
You are here: Home > Ideas & Inspiration > Top Ideas > Top Tips for Spring
After a cold and miserable winter, it’s no surprise that we all look forward to spring. With warmer weather and sunshine on the horizon, now is the perfect time to plan your next trip to the Royal Borough.
Tickets for many attractions and events are available to book in advance through the Windsor online shop.
Our friendly staff at the Royal Windsor Information Centre are also there in person to offer advice and make suggestions for great days out.
With both the February half term and the Easter holidays in the spring, 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? Making chocolate goodies at Dr Choc's Windsor Chocolate Factory or getting lost in the Cliveden Maze?
Check out our Ideas and Inspiration section and get planning and look at our Special Offers too!
A good atmosphere can make all the difference. Rugby in the Brewery returns to the Windsor & Eton Brewery and you can join them for every match.
No need to book – just turn up on the day – but it's advisable to arrive early as they fill up fast, especially for the England games.
All Windsor & Eton Brewery's beers, including their rugby special Last Drop, will be available on the bar and in pitchers.
Spring sees our glorious parks and gardens coming alive with colour.
Every spring the gardens at National Trust Cliveden are a delight to behold as hundreds of thousands of narcissi spring up across the estate.
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.
And for Easter, families can enjoy Cliveden's Easter Egg Trail through the formal gardens with a chocolate egg to be enjoyed at the end!
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 provides 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 you will 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 the National Collection of Magnolias and award winning Rhododendrons
• Stunningly beautiful flowering Japanese Cherries
• Carpets of Crocus and dwarf daffodils
May
• Special woodland wonders including: Trilliums, Erythroniums and Primulas
• Dazzling Azaleas
Take a look at The Savill Garden's 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?
And of course there are plenty of great things to do, however she likes to relax with family.
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?
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 the return of the Royal Windsor Steam Express to Windsor, departing most summer Tuesdays from London Victoria. There are three classes of travel to choose from as you experience this nostalgic journey by steam; you can even treat yourself to a champagne brunch in a Pullman Style Dining Carriage as you sit back and enjoy the ride. And French Brothers are offering both steamboat lunch and afternoon tea cruises on board one of their beautiful genuine steamboats. Perfect to celebrate a special occasion or as a gift for a loved one.
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 (SOLD OUT) to celebrate HM The Queen's 70th anniversary on the throne. The Platinum Jubilee Celebration will see over 500 horses and 1,000 performers create a 90-minute piece of spellbinding arena theatre that will include actors and artists, musicians, international military displays from the Commonwealth and Europe, our own Armed Forces, dancers and global equestrian displays.
One of our ‘hidden gems', fascinating and historic Dorney Court opens its doors to the public for just two days in May 2022 (then in June and August too). 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 (please visit Dorney Lake's website for the latest public access arrangements).
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! 2022 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 well-appointed self-catering apartments.
Search What’s On for all the latest event information.
© Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead 2022. All Rights Reserved
Please fill in the details below. Fields marked with a * are required.