Windsor dates back to 1110 and the Saxon times then later Henry I lived there. It was a Royal Borough until 1972 when it became the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead.
The town is easily accessible from the J6 of M4 and Slough via a three mile stretch of dual carriageway. Parking the town can be difficult especially at weekends but there are several multi storey and open air car parks, those offering long term parking are better value.
Public transport is good with a park and ride service from nearby Legoland . Greenline coaches run a service from London and Windsor has two mainline stations, Windsor and Eton Central.
Windsor has over 1,000,000 tourists a year and employs 11,000 people.
Windsor Castle is the main tourist attraction and is an impressive building. It has been a Royal home for over 900 years and is the oldest and largest castle in the world. It was Charles II who had the 5km Long Walk laid due south from the castle to Great Park.
A major fire in November 1992 took 15 hours to put out and one fifth of the castle was destroyed. Restoration took £37 million and five years to complete.
It is a favourite place of the Queen and she spends most of her weekends there.
Part of the castle is open to the public where can be seen state rooms, armoury and the Royal dolls house, another impressive building!
Around three times a week the Changing of the Guard takes place and this can be viewed from llam to ll.30am either from the High Street where the soldiers march through, usually accompanied by a band or from inside the castle grounds which is where the Change of Guard takes place, although to see this part of the ceremony an entry fee will have to be paid.
Windsor has many other features and places of interest, the Great Park is a beautiful park with great open spaces, where horse riders can enjoy a good canter provided the riders have a permit, currently around £120 per annum. Part of the park can be driven round and with flowering shrubs, large old trees and great views of the castle, no wonder there are always plenty of people there
There are even place for the children like the Windsor Leisure Centre with waves, slides, water cannon and wild water creek, just the place to take the family.
Legoland is a short drive from the town centre and a great favourite with the young children. This was built on the old Windsor Safari site and a new attraction is added every year so there is always something new to see when visiting. A sure favourite there is the Driving School where children can get their ‘driving licence’ the cars of course are built from Lego.
Nearby Dorney Lake is the venue for rowing an canoeing events and will be host to both events in the 2012 Olympics.
A short distance from Windsor is the Royal Ascot Race course. This was reopened by the Queen on lst June 2006 after a £200million development was finished. This years Royal Meeting is from 19th to 23rd June and will of course be visited by the Royal Family. Besides these five days a further twenty one race days are due to take place.
Eton is just across the River Thames via a pedestrian and cycle bridge which leads into Eton High Street. Eton is famous for it Eton Boys School.
To the south of Windsor is Old Windsor, Egham and Virginia Water, another lovely country spot with its lake and woodland walks makes for a very pleasant afternoon out.
Windsor boasts ten hotels, several theatres, the most famous being the Theatre Royal.
Restaurants, cafes and bars are a plenty serving all types of cuisine from American fast food to Chinese, Indian and Italian. Also there are several public houses all serving quality food. Many of these are on the banks of the River Thames and make a lovely place to laze away an hour or an evening enjoying the food and views.
There is always a market for rental properties in Windsor for both long and short term lettings and there is an abundance of flats and houses for rental. The average cost of a 3 bed house in Maidenhead is between £1900 and £2400 per month and a 2 bed apartment in Windsor would cost between £1000 and £1500 per month.
All of this making Windsor a very good tourist attraction.
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