The best things to do in Windsor and the surrounding areas
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All the way up Eton High Street, the couple in front of me were talking about the milkshakes. Not about the almost-600-year-old college that has made this Berkshire town famous, nor about its lovely Thames Valley scenery, nor the mighty royal presence of Windsor Castle, crouched behind us on its escarpment across the river. No, they were drawn by the thought of banana milkshakes at Fresh’n’Fine, a jolly little café run by a Turkish couple, which they’d heard about from friends. That’s the thing about Windsor and Eton, twin towns linked by a pedestrian bridge over the Thames, and the areas that fan out from them – their charms tend to be surprisingly low-key.
While the narrow streets curling around the castle mound are full of souvenir shops, a 10-minute walk down Peascod (pronounced ‘Pescod’) Street takes you to another world. It’s easy to forget this is an army town, home to the Coldstream Guards and the Household Cavalry Regiment, with grids of little terrace houses and a garrison church, and an odd release of pressure once away from the royal forcefield. Small shops and bars are dotted along fast-changing St Leonard’s Road, and beyond the busy traffic on the Royal Windsor Way is the oldest part of town, Clewer, with its Victorian racecourse, right by the river on a corner of the second-largest island on the Thames.
The river is glorious, looping lazily between vast tracts of land owned mostly by the Crown Estate or by the College and therefore largely undeveloped. It’s prime swan real estate, evident from the birds’ traces all over the towpath by the college boathouses, but apart from that Eton is far quieter, with a history trail, some good pubs and institutions such as the much-loved wine bar Gilbey’s.
There’s brilliant walking both on the riverbanks and inland in massive Windsor Great Park, whose three-mile Long Walk became the pristine backdrop for Harry and Meghan’s wedding procession in May 2018, and, more recently, the myriad events celebrating the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee. Four miles downstream is Runnymede, of Magna Carta fame, which mashes up historic memorials with fascinating installations, and around both towns lies an outer constellation of smart hotels and restaurants.
But let’s not forget that we’re sitting on the skirts of a major celebrity. Windsor Castle, the Queen’s favourite residence, is one of the best-preserved examples of Invasion architecture in the country. It’s also undergoing developments of its own: autumn 2019 sees the opening of its first café in the 14th-century Undercroft, built during the reign of King Edward III. Who knows? It might even do a royal milkshake.
Rosella DegoriThe best places to stay in Windsor
Oakley Court
Undoubtedly Windsor’s coolest new (well, newly revamped) hotel and, arguably, destination in and of itself, Oakley Court has snapped up grid spots on the Instagram of some of the country’s most well-heeled residents thanks to its dynamic approach to hospitality. Guests are invited to treat this stately pile as their own – choosing the vinyl for the record player, taking tea wherever they please and spreading out across the various lounges and seating areas with a game, a book or a newspaper. Plus, the fact that many of the bedrooms face the Thames at the bottom of the lawn doesn’t hurt. But the two biggest draws for this Gothic riverside manor house are as follows – first, the communal dining experience, hosted by top Japanese Chef Akira, and sommelier Martin, where up to 12 guests dine each night on a tasting menu that will subvert everything you thought you knew about sushi. The candlelit table, which feels much as though your chicest friend is hosting a catered dinner party at their country pile, forms part of the stage for the evening, though it’s undoubtedly the open kitchen tucked into the oversized windows of the dining room that brings this particular performance to life. Look out for croissant-encrusted sushi, high-quality sake and the inimitable fusion of Asian flavours with local British and European ingredients. Second, the Summer River House, in collaboration with Soho House, which is, as the sartorially sound group sitting behind us put it, “a total vibe”. Here, along the river, cabanas with kitsch lounge furniture, sprawling double day beds clad in the unmistakable mark of the Soho House group, the white and green striped pattern, and under the string-light lit bell tent, a clutch of mismatched sofas, chairs and tables around a central wooden fire pit, make this strip of water feel more like a chunk of the Riviera and Ibiza combined than somewhere just off the A308.