Time Out Country Walks near London Volume 1
Walk 18 : Sunningdale to Windsor
Windsor Great Park
| Length | 14km (8.7 miles), 4 hours 15 minutes. For the whole outing, including trains, sights and meals, allow 8 hours - or 9 hours if visiting Savill Gardens. |
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| OS Landranger Map | No.175 (West London map No.176 covers the walk too, except for a couple of hundred metres near the start). Sunningdale, map reference SU 953 667, is in Surrey, 15km south-west of Heathrow Airport. Windsor is in Berkshire. |
| Toughness | 2 out of 10 |
| Features | Near the start of this walk, you go through Coworth Park, with its polo-playing fields (belonging to a Canadian millionaire), to enter the 4,800 acres of Windsor Great Park (no entrance charge), near the Virginia Water lakes and Valley Gardens. These gardens have a vast collection of rhododendrons and azaleas (best visited in May or June). Lunch is in a restaurant overlookingSavill Gardens (although you have to pay to explore these further - admission £3.30; senior citizens £2.80; accompanied children under 16 free). After lunch, the route is up Rhododendron Ride to Cow Pond, which is covered in an array of water-lilies. From there, it is through woods, avoiding as much as possible of the Long Walk: the wearying 4km straight path from the Copper Horse statue to Windsor Castle. Keep clear of the stags in the rutting season (September/October). The suggested tea place is Nell Gwynn's Parlour in Windsor. Then the route is through some of the oldest streets in Windsor to the Thames (with Eton College the other side of the river). |
| Shortening the Walk | You could phone for a taxi at lunchtime from the Savill Gardens Restaurant; or walk 2km from there to Englefield Green to catch a bus to Staines or Windsor. A bus can also be caught from the outskirts of Windsor, whilst on the Long Walk (see walk directions in the book). History Sunningdale Parish Church was built in 1840 at a cost of a mere £1,600. The 100-foot-high Totem Pole in Windsor Great Park was a gift to the queen in 1958 from British Columbia, and is made from a 600-year-old western red cedar. The giant Obelisk in the park was put up by George II to commemorate 'the success in arms of his son, William'. Savill Gardens are named in honour of Eric Savill who, with encouragement from George V, created them on this inauspicious, fast-draining, sandy soil. Later, in 1947, Savill began work on Valley Gardens, created on the site of an old gravel pit. The Copper Horse in the park is a huge equestrian statue to George III, commissioned by his son, George IV. A castle was first built at Windsor by William the Conqueror in 1070. Windsor Castle fell to a siege by John, King Richard I's brother, in 1193; and was captured, without a defence being mounted, by the parliamentarians in 1642, the first year of the Civil War. It suffered badly in the fire of 1992, Elizabeth II's 'annus horribilis'. Windsor Castle (tel 01753 831 118) is open daily and admission is £8.50 (£6.50 on Sundays); last entry is 4pm in summer (March to October) and 3pm in winter. |
| Lunch | The suggested lunchtime stop is the Savill Gardens Restaurant (tel 01784 432 326) inside Windsor Great Park, serving good and reasonably priced meals. It is open 10am to 4pm daily in winter, and 10am to 6pm in summer. |
| Warning | This text was taken from an older edition of the book, and is a little out of date. Please check the updates for this walk. |
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Walking Instructions
For a map and detailed walking instruction, please see Time Out Country Walks near London Volume 1
