Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
spectacular displays of flowers and shrubs are presented in a natural and wild state.
The garden is 4 miles from Windsor along the A30; turn off at Wick Road and follow
the signs. The nearest rail station is at Egham; you'll need to take a taxi a distance of
3 miles. A self-service restaurant and gift shop are on site.
Adjoining Savill Garden are the
Valley Gardens,
full of shrubs and trees in a series
of wooded natural valleys running to
Virginia Water,
an ornamental lake created in
1753. Both are open daily year-round. There is no admission charge to enter the Valley
Gardens, but parking is a flat £6, or £1.50 for the first hour at Virginia Water.
Windsor Great Park.
&
01753/860222.
www.thecrownestate.co.uk. Admission to park free; admission
to Savill Garden (
&
01784/435544;
www.theroyallandscape.co.uk). Mar-Oct £8.50 adults, £7.95
seniors, £3.75 children 6-16; Nov-Feb £6.25 adults, £5.75 seniors, £2.25 children; £16-£21 family ticket,
children 5 and under free. Daily 10am-6pm (4:30pm in winter).
Legoland Windsor
THEME PARK Just outside Windsor, Legoland is a
60-hectare (150-acre) children's theme park, based on the Lego toy system, that
opened in 1996. Although a bit corny, it's a favorite for kids. Attractions, spread across
several activity centers, include Duplo Land, offering a boat ride, puppet theatre, and
waterworks, plus Miniland, showing European cities and villages recreated in minute
detail from millions of Lego bricks. Knight's Kingdom takes you back to the days of
knights and dragons and includes a blazing dragon roller coaster. The Land of the
Vikings features a river-rapids ride, while Adventure Land is a collection of more
conventional rides.
Winkfield Rd. (B3022), 2 miles south of Windsor.
&
0870/504-0404.
www.legoland.co.uk. Admission
varies through the season, starting with cheaper online tickets from £37 for adults, £27 for seniors and
children 3-15. Mid-Mar-mid-Nov daily 10am-5pm (until 7pm on school holidays). Closed late Nov-early Mar.
Runnymede
HISTORIC SITE Three miles southeast of Windsor is Runnymede,
a 76-hectare (188-acre) water meadow on the south side of the Thames, in Surrey.
This is where it's believed that King John put his seal on the Great Charter in 1215,
after intense pressure from his feudal barons and lords. The charter forced the king
to accept a long list of individual liberties and is regarded as the founding document
of English constitutional law, as well as inspiration for the U.S. Constitution (a copy
of the Magna Carta is displayed in Washington D.C.'s National Archives). The
Magna Carta Memorial,
a large pillar of engraved English granite, is clearly sign-
posted and reached after a short walk. The domed pavilion that shelters it was placed
here by the American Bar Association in 1957, to acknowledge the fact that American
law stems from the English system. Runnymede is also the site of the moving
John
F. Kennedy Memorial,
an acre of ground given to the United States by the people
of Britain in 1965.
Runnymede,
1
⁄
2
mile west of the hamlet of Old Windsor on the south side of the A308.
&
01784/432891.
www.nationaltrust.org.uk. Free admission. Daily dawn to dusk. If you're driving on the M25, exit at Junc-
tion 13. The nearest rail connection is at Egham,
1
⁄
2
mile away. The train ride from London's Waterloo
Station takes about 25 minutes.
Ascot Racecourse
RACECOURSE The first race meeting at Ascot, which is
directly south of Windsor at the southern end of Windsor Great Park, was held way
back in 1711. Ascot Racecourse has been a symbol of high society (and ludicrously
extravagant hats), ever since, as pictures of the royal family enjoying the races there
have been flashed around the world.
Ascot only hosts 27 days of racing yearly; the town itself isn't worth visiting otherwise.
The highlight of the Ascot social season is the
Royal Meeting
(or
Royal Week
), just
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