Windsor day trip — Jess’s Adventures

The guide

Windsor

Berkshire, England

The Copper Horse at the end of the Long Walk in Windsor Great Park

Windsor Castle — the oldest and largest inhabited castle in the world. (Photo: Wikimedia Commons)

Getting there

London Waterloo → Windsor & Eton Riverside — direct with South Western Railway, about 55–58 minutes, roughly twice hourly. Saturday and Sunday both run the same direct pattern (first Sunday direct arrival about 07:44), so either day works — just check the first train if you want an early start.

Famous for

Windsor is the castle town — and what a castle: nearly a thousand years old, the oldest and largest inhabited castle in the world, and still a working royal palace where the King keeps his weekends. Below its walls the Thames curls past Eton on the far bank, and to the south the Great Park stretches for 5,000 acres with red deer roaming free. Castles, chapels, pageantry and a proper walk to earn it all — less than an hour from Waterloo.

Where to eat

The Crooked House of Windsor — tea, scones and sandwiches in a famously leaning 17th-century tea house. (Photo: Country Life)

The Waterside Inn — the three-Michelin-star French dining room on the Thames at Bray — pan-fried lobster, canard à la presse and riverside elegance. Book well ahead.
The Fat Duck — Heston Blumenthal's three-star 'Journey' in Bray: theatrical, multisensory, unforgettable. Book months ahead — this is a pilgrimage, not lunch.
The Crooked House of Windsor — the famously leaning 17th-century tea house — tea, scones and sandwiches under wonky beams, a two-minute walk from the castle.
Gilbey's Bar & Restaurant — a lively bar and restaurant on Church Street — a relaxed post-castle lunch spot, open seven days.

What to do

St George's Chapel — a Gothic masterpiece inside the castle, resting place of ten monarchs. (Photo: Wikimedia Commons)

A red deer stag like those in Windsor Great Park

A red deer stag — the Great Park's herds roam free all year. (Photo: Wikimedia Commons)

Windsor Castle — the State Apartments and St George's Chapel — nearly 1,000 years of royal history. Open Thu–Mon 10:00–17:15 (last admission 16:00), ~£32 booked ahead; closed Tue & Wed.
St George's Chapel — the Gothic masterpiece within the castle: ten monarchs rest here, including Henry VIII and Elizabeth II. Closed to visitors on Sundays.
The Changing of the Guard — the King's Guard marches from Victoria Barracks up the High Street at 11:00 on Tue, Thu and Sat — the street procession is free; the ceremony itself needs a castle ticket.
The Long Walk — 2.65 miles (4.25 km) of tree-lined avenue from the castle gates to the Copper Horse statue of George III on Snow Hill.
Windsor Great Park — 5,000 acres south of the castle: Virginia Water, the Savill Garden (entry charge) and the free-roaming deer herds. Free entry, dawn to dusk.
Eton — walk over Windsor Bridge to the far bank: Eton's High Street, antique shops and the famous school.
French Brothers boat trip — a 40-minute round trip on the Thames past the castle, Eton and the racecourse — daily until late October, about £13.50 adults.
Theatre Royal Windsor — the year-round producing theatre in the castle's shadow — a full season running right up to panto (Jack and the Beanstalk from 20 Nov).

Jess's favourite

Windsor Great Park's free-roaming red deer. The park's herds have grazed here for centuries, and you can watch them from the Long Walk all year round

October is the rut, when the stags roar across the park. Keep a respectful distance and let them come to you. Entry to the park is free, dawn to dusk.

Good to know: The castle is closed every Tuesday and Wednesday, and St George's Chapel is closed to visitors on Sundays — plan your day around both. Book castle tickets online in advance to skip the queue; the park and the Long Walk are free and open dawn to dusk.

Jess plans her trips the week before, but trains have a mind of their own. Routes, times and fares in these guides were checked at the time of writing — engineering works, timetable changes and last-minute alterations can still happen. Please check your journey before you travel (National Rail Enquiries or the Trainline app) — and if a replacement bus sneaks in, we hope the day makes up for it.

Read Jess's diary of the day ↓

Jess's Day Off · Diary No. 20

Windsor: Castles, Deer, and a Leaning Cup of Tea

Windsor, Berkshire

I woke up at 6am and the flat was too quiet, so I made tea and got dressed quickly, before the zoo voices in my head could start organising a rota.

Direct train from Waterloo, 55 minutes, flask of tea, cheese sandwich, and a notebook with three pages of Barnaby's latest dictation (a hedgehog, a wrong turn, and a stag who is very proud of his voice — I'll tell you when it's finished). Riverside station, ten minutes' walk from the castle gates. Easy.

The arrival

The castle does not do subtle. It just sits up there on the hill, enormous and completely unbothered, while the town goes about its Sunday underneath. The first thing I noticed after the quiet was the smell of cut grass and horses, and the second was that the pigeons on the High Street are enormous. Zoo pigeons would be mortified.

The walk

I meant to walk the Long Walk properly, all 2.65 miles of it, straight to the Copper Horse like a sensible person. Instead I took my mandatory wrong turn — followed a side path that looked friendlier — and ended up much closer to the deer than any sensible person planned. It was better. The wrong turn is always better.

October is the rut, and the stags were roaring. It is a sound that goes straight through your boots. One big stag stood broadside to me across the grass, breathing mist, absolutely certain of himself, and gave me a look that said I have ruled this park for a thousand years and you may watch. I watched. A zookeeper knows better than to argue with a stag.

The café

The Crooked House of Windsor, a two-minute stumble from the castle: a tea room in a house that has been leaning since 1687. I had tea and a scone under wonky beams and sketched the building in my notebook, and it came out leaning too, which felt honest. The woman at the next table told me the whole thing was built in a hurry and the timber dried crooked. Even the builders took a wrong turn. Excellent.

Lunch

Gilbey's, on Church Street — a proper sandwich eaten slowly while the guard-change crowds drifted past. Nobody roared at me. Chips and ringside people-watching: exactly right.

Home

Back in London by early evening. Tired, windswept, notebook smelling faintly of woodsmoke and scone. Happy.

Story seed

The stags did it. All that roaring across the park, just to say I'm here and I'm looking after my herd. I'm writing a scene where Pinafor tries to roar like a stag and Clarence gently explains that the roar is the stag's way of looking after his family — and that she looks after hers by being quick and kind and clever, which is just as loud in its own way.

Barnaby's text"You took your wrong turn and walked straight into the deer — that is the keeper's eye at work, Jess. Animals know the difference between someone who watches and someone who truly sees. Keep walking, keep looking. The Great Wood is lucky to have you."

— Jess

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