Windsor

Why not spend the weekend in the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead and live like a royal. I am here on a luscious early spring day, the sun is shining and the days are getting longer. It's got to be one of the best times of the year, the temperature has suddenly shot up and it's shirt sleeves all round. I am at the Mama Mia Cafeteria right on the banks of the River Thames and it's early March but warm enough to sit outside. Nowhere better to enjoy omelette and chips for lunch. Just up the street behind are the walls of Windsor Castle.

If you're not familiar with the local geography, Windsor and Maidenhead is a borough of about 73000  inhabitants which sort of tags on to the shirtsleeves of the London metropolitan area. The town of Windsor itself has a population of over 31000 people. It is close enough to London to nip in for a shopping spree for the afternoon, but out in the country enough to feel very small town. It lies just west of the M25, the London orbital motorway that is a dream to drive around at off peak times, but a pain in the proverbials when trying to catch a daytime flight from Heathrow. An air of affluence virtually seeps out the ground if not through the walls in these parts. Windsor of course is very near the great airport itself, which should give goosebumps to some of you international flyers who want to see a real castle.

Coming off the M25 at junction 13 from the south east is a great way to enter the town, although you have to have your wits about you to get in the right lane, especially as Windsor is not that well signposted in these parts. Coming off the roundabout at the bottom of the M25 slip road the road to Windsor enters an altogether more placid and rural landscape, hugging the Thames as it flows through Runnymede, where King John signed the Magna Carta, the Great Charter, 800 years ago on June the 15th this year with the barons, and laid the foundation stone for English liberty. A lovely green valley rises up to the left into gentle hilltops surrounding that memorial to Magna Carta, a simple circle of domed classical columns (a monopteros) within walking distance of the main road. Carrying on up the main road you get to Old Windsor. Here the road 'bumps' into the Thames which at this point looks at its most idyllic with its rather prosperous looking real estate and classic parked barges cluttering the banks. On a nice day the scene is unbeatable. If you carry on through Old Windsor you get to another roundabout where you take a left turn onto a long straight stretch where you get your first glimpse of Windsor Castle off to the right which is quite a sight on a sunny day. The main road cuts through the Long Walk and then bends right towards the town centre.



Windsor shopping centre is a real indoor treat, the original shopping centre from 1897, all steel, glass and bricks and splayed out through the centre of the town, seamlessly merging into the more modern walking streets and out onto the main thoroughfare bordering the castle. Lots of space seems to be given over to the cafe culture, you are spoilt for choice whether you want to sit outdoors under the ancient atrium or inside. Inserted into the end of the shopping centre is the old railway station, Windsor and Eton Central, a little terminus that takes you out of the London metropolis from Paddington and right into the heart of this gem of a town centre (35m journey). Just shy of the end of the platform is an old steam locomotive to add to the museum feel of the place. Incidentally it's a fine route into the terminus by train as the track runs well above the surrounds giving a pleasing introductory panorama to the town. There is another station at Riverside not far from the Thames where you can catch a train to Waterloo. Incidentally, Riverside is the best place to park in Windsor town centre, the railway car park costs £4 for the whole day which is pretty jolly decent as the typical daily car park charge in these parts will cause your eyeballs to pop out on stalks. A running theme of the area are some astronomically high charges.

You have to do the castle of course, it's a bit on the expensive side at £19.20 for an adult but unmissable. It is after all, the oldest and largest occupied castle in the world, a real monster of a site, whose stonework looks solid and enduring enough to survive a nuclear explosion. It sits right in the middle of the town so you can step off the train, grab your lunch in the shopping centre and step out to the castle entrance. The castle commands a great view out towards Eton College, then on the other side is Windsor Great Park with its famous Long Walk, beautiful lawns stretching between an avenue of trees to the south for 2.65 miles. The castle plus grounds deserve their own write up.

Take a stroll down Eton High St which is just over the river from the town centre, and enjoy a liquorice all sorts of varied establishments serving the local populace. It's a proper old fashioned English high street with lots of independent names, cafes and tea shops, an ancient post office that  looks as if it's livery hasn't changed since the First World War, clothes shops including one with the most splendid striped uniforms and natty footwear, wine bars and food shops. There is even a Coutts bank with a Coutts cash machine outside, never seen one of them before! We are in rarefied heights! Did David Cameron himself extract wads of cash from this very spot? Eton College is just a mile or so down the road on the right. This well worn street must have seen generations of schoolboys marching up and down in their striped jackets and boaters, raiding the local sweet shops, celebrating countless sporting and national victories, nicking the caps off countless traders heads, and getting fitted out for uniforms in some tailor's emporium.

If you take a walk up the extremely swan decked river from the town centre on the south side of the Thames you come to a suspended full size replica Hurricane fighter plane from the Second World War, and indeed the inventor of the Hurricane was a local man, Sidney Camm, who was born in Windsor in 1893 and became chief designer for the firm Hawker.

Other famous names associated with Windsor are a lady by the name of HM Queen Elizabeth 11 of course, Margaret Oliphant, 19th century novelist and historical writer, and actor Michael Caine, who lived here in the 60s and 70s.