Windsor – Visited June 2014
Having looked online for parking and decided to stick with Park and Ride, (as we did for Oxford), we headed for Home Park, Park and Ride. We were sadly disappointed by the confusing signage, as it didn't appear to be a park and ride, but according to the web, it was and after asking someone, we parked in a bay and my wife went to check the bus times. When she returned, I was surprised to hear the next bus wasn't due for another 45mins, as they seem to take a 1 hr break at 10:20 (it was a Monday), so the next bus was 11:20 and then every 20 minutes thereafter. We decided it was still easier and cheaper to stay and walk, but when my wife went to the pay machine, it said something about sports centre users only, I wasn't messing about trying to find somewhere else to park, so we paid by phone and headed into town.
The first thing that we noticed (apart from the castle walls towering above) was a sign at the bus stop for Duck Tours, which is similar to the Yellow Duckmarine (our review here) we went on in Liverpool, but it said they used modern "ducks", which is great, it's a shame some of these historic vehicles are now unsafe to go in the water. The sign said we could get tickets at the Information Office in town, so we went to get tickets, but sadly they were not running on a Monday, disappointed and this is why planning your visit pays off, this time we hadn't done as much research/planning as usual.
Unlike Oxford, Windsor has only one main dominant building, the castle, but the streets have a more interesting look about them, a more random style, with old and new architecture.
After some lunch we headed down the hill towards the river and noticed the "Duck" parked up, so we headed down and found they were running after all, so we got onboard, check out our review, pictures and videos here.
Having looked online for parking and decided to stick with Park and Ride, (as we did for Oxford), we headed for Home Park, Park and Ride. We were sadly disappointed by the confusing signage, as it didn't appear to be a park and ride, but according to the web, it was and after asking someone, we parked in a bay and my wife went to check the bus times. When she returned, I was surprised to hear the next bus wasn't due for another 45mins, as they seem to take a 1 hr break at 10:20 (it was a Monday), so the next bus was 11:20 and then every 20 minutes thereafter. We decided it was still easier and cheaper to stay and walk, but when my wife went to the pay machine, it said something about sports centre users only, I wasn't messing about trying to find somewhere else to park, so we paid by phone and headed into town.
The first thing that we noticed (apart from the castle walls towering above) was a sign at the bus stop for Duck Tours, which is similar to the Yellow Duckmarine (our review here) we went on in Liverpool, but it said they used modern "ducks", which is great, it's a shame some of these historic vehicles are now unsafe to go in the water. The sign said we could get tickets at the Information Office in town, so we went to get tickets, but sadly they were not running on a Monday, disappointed and this is why planning your visit pays off, this time we hadn't done as much research/planning as usual.
Unlike Oxford, Windsor has only one main dominant building, the castle, but the streets have a more interesting look about them, a more random style, with old and new architecture.
After some lunch we headed down the hill towards the river and noticed the "Duck" parked up, so we headed down and found they were running after all, so we got onboard, check out our review, pictures and videos here.
After our ride on the Duck tour, we walked over the bridge and along Eton high street, there was a charm about it, but it was much quieter and didn't have the same feel as Windsor. We walked as far as Eton College, which is another impressive building, we had a sneak peek through a door way, but we wasn't allowed any further, into what looked like a large courtyard area.
I would recommend anyone visit Windsor, not only is there plenty of shops, you can visit the castle, go on the Duck, take a river cruise or even hire a motor boat for yourselves and if you're staying in or near Windsor, there's a bus going straight to Legoland as well.
