instagram road trip to windsor on #igtravelthursday

Happy IG Travel Thursday – today we are stepping away from my current home county Kent all the way to Berkshire – then again, from London it’s just a stone’s throw away (and not so far from here either, but in England driving near London is so slow!). Some of the most famous places in Berkshire must be Windsor Castle, the residence of the Queen, which is of course located in the small but oh, so idyllic town of Windsor and Eton College on the other side of the river from Windsor. 

Berkshire is close to London and surrounded by other well-known “shires” such as Oxfordshire (where you find the famous university town Oxford), Hampshire and Buckinghamshire. We spent a weekend in Windsor and its vicinity and enjoyed the beauty of both Windsor and Eton (we were so lucky with the weather too it being warm and sunny). If you want to visit Windsor Castle my tip is book your ticket in advance as it saves you at least an hour of queuing time – and also go early enough. Inside, at least for the Dollhouse part there is still a rather sizable queue also. Otherwise I think that they control the number of visitors as it wasn’t crowded at all! Windsor is one the largest castles in the world and has lots of different architecture and parts to it. There also lives 500-strong staff! The property has been beautifully kept up and is extremely impressive inside the state apartments (sadly, no photography allowed there…) I have written a post before about Windsor Castle [found here] with plenty of more photos, so I leave this post to be as usual, more about ceasing the moment with Instagram. There is a lot of shopping and good restaurants in Windsor and Eton side, and I fell victim of the shopping spirit and got some Molton Brown goodies again too… Even without the castle Windsor would be worth visiting – walking around and enjoying beautiful buildings and river-side life We stayed in the Sir Christopher Wren hospital, which is made of many old buildings- ours was a contemporary mews-style suite. The restaurant is located by the river, so one gets to enjoy the sunset while dining! If you have time the Long Walk is definitely worth it from the Castle, through the deer park, up the hill to the statue. The views are magnificent from there over the valley. But be beware that it is a really long walk – being a straight line it just doesn’t look  like – with brisk walking you might make it there and back in two hours. We made it to the end of the long walk quite late and had to run back as the park closes at dusk! Just walk across the river from Windsor and you are in Eton – the home town of the famous boys college – Eton College. There are lots of other sites to see around Windsor and Berkshire, such as the memorial for the site where Magna Carta was signed. The area also includes a special memorial for John F. Kennedy, an acre of land, that has been donated to the US. And finally, my weekly fave from @therichlifeonabudget – oh so romantic view of Sonoma Valley. I do miss that part of living in California… Now it’s your turn to join our linky – please read the rules below, add our IGTravelThursday icon, link to one of the hosts’ blogs and read enjoy reading everyone’s great travel stories!

Here are also links to my previous #IG Travel Thursday stories: 

• Instagram travel through England’s Kent
• Instagram Travel Thursday – exploring Northern Spain
• Introducing Travel Thursday linky (best of April moments)