Windsor Great Park

Windsor Great Park welcomes over two and a half million every year.

Windsor Great Park, the only Royal Park managed by the Crown Estate, was once part of a vast Norman hunting forest which was enclosed in the late 13^th century. The 2,020 hectares of parkland, which includes a Deer Park, is a varied landscape of formal avenues, gardens, woodland and open grassland. The antiquity of the landscape is enhanced by the scattering of great ancient oaks for which the Great Park and its forest are renowned.

Public access

Public access

Windsor Great Park welcomes visitors.

The Great Park is an ever more popular destination for recreational activity, with over two and a half million people visiting every year to run, walk or ride.

Savill Garden, Valley Gardens and Virginia Water - for full visitor information please follow the link: The Royal Landscape

Horse riding and Fishing in the Great Park - are available by permit only, with enquiries directed to The Crown Estate Office.

Cycling - cyclists are welcome in many areas of the Great Park. We request that they keep to the designated paths and give way to pedestrians and horses. However cycles are not permitted in the Long Walk. For the more adventurous, there are mountain bike trails in Swinley Forest, again for permit holders only.

For more information on cycling please follow the link:

Cycling in Windsor Great Park (PDF, 307 KB)

Walking - car parks are provided at a number of locations around the Great Park boundary. Dog walkers are very welcome - for more information please follow the link:

Dog Walker Leaflet (PDF, 2 MB)

Park events

Park events

Windsor Great Park is not just a place of relaxation and natural beauty, it is also a hive of activity where people from all over the country gather for events.

A number of events ranging from small charity walks to International Polo days attracting over 20,000 people are held annually in the park, and across the wider estate. Events include the Windsor half marathon, an event which sees 6,000 athletes of all abilities testing themselves against a scenic half marathon course, run entirely on private roads within the Great Park, and the National Carriage Driving championships.

October

Monday 24 - Sunday 30

Pumpkin Week

November

Thursday 24 - Sunday 27

Crafts for Christmas Craft Fair

December

Thursday 1 - Friday 23

Christmas at The Savill Garden

Conservation

Conservation

The estate's diverse flora and fauna is of both national and international significance and extensive areas have been designated as Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI's).

The Great Park and forest is home to one of the largest populations of ancient oak and beech trees in northern Europe. As well as being of historical and cultural significance these venerable trees are biologically important in that they support a diverse range of specialised species of insects and fungi.

Ornithological interest on the estate is enhanced by the ancient trees, which provide ideal nesting sites for a number of birds including both the tawny and barn owl and the greater and lesser spotted woodpecker. The wetland habitat within the Great Park is home to a variety of waterfowl and reed nesting birds, including the mandarin duck and water rail, and even the occasional bittern visits the reed beds.

Maintaining and enhancing the ecological diversity and integrity of the estate is one of our principle priorities.

History

History

Windsor Great Park, the only Royal Park managed by The Crown Estate, was once part of a vast Norman hunting forest which was enclosed in the late thirteenth century. The antiquity of the landscape is enhanced by the scattering of great ancient oaks for which the Great Park and its forest are renowned.

In the seventeenth century the Park began to develop a more formal landscape, with the planting of a great avenue of elm trees linking Windsor Castle to the Great Park. Today that same world famous Long Walk is planted with horse chestnut and plane trees. At the southern end of the Long Walk is the Copper Horse, a statue of King George III astride a mount. Erected in 1831, the statue commemorates his significant contribution to the development of the Great Park, including the introduction of commercial farms.

Prince Albert further developed the farming and forestry interests when Queen Victoria made him the Park Ranger. The second of the parks three equestrian statues depicts Prince Albert, and overlooks Smiths Lawn.

It was during Victoria's reign that a school was built educate children of park workers, a function it still partly serves to this day, although its roll-call now extends beyond the park boundaries. A further social development in the twentieth century was the building of a village to house estate workers, complete with Post Office and General Store.

The present herd of red deer was established in 1979 by the current Park Ranger, HRH The Duke of Edinburgh, and the 600 strong herd are direct descendents of 40 hinds and two stags introduced from the Balmoral Estate.

In 2002, to mark the Golden Jubilee a third equestrian statue, of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II on horseback, was commissioned by The Crown Estate Commissioners, and now sits at the southern end of Queen Anne's ride.