Tag Archives: Windsor Great Park

The Long Walk’s Lesser-Known Sibling

The Long Walk in Windsor Great Park is very well known. A long, straight road the goes from Windsor Castle up to a statue of George III is something many visitors to Windsor will take in. However, it isn’t the only route radiating from the castle across the park. Queen Anne’s Ride is an even longer route. Just as straight but not paved and with the section within the town built over, it is a nicer section to visit.

Because it isn’t as well known, there aren’t anything like the number of visitors. You can often feel like you are alone when you are there because any other visitors are likely to be well away from you. Because it is grassy, it is more comfortable to stroll along. There is more undulation, though, so you have pluses and minuses (or ups and downs if I am being literal).

Halfway along the route is a memorial to 1,000 years of the High Sheriff. This circular stone monument has a hole through the middle if you want to look through it. It is a large separation from the memorial and the castle, so I played with focus stacking to get both of them in focus for one image. However, this isn’t the most significant memorial.

Go further from the castle and you come to a statue of Queen Elizabeth II on horseback. Unlike the statue of George III which has him dressed like a Roman emperor, this statue has her looking like she has just ridden out from the castle and is looking back towards it. It is a far nicer statue. If you are walking in Windsor Great Park, I would certainly recommend that you make sure to include Queen Anne’s Ride as part of your route.

The Long Walk from Both Ends

Windsor Great Park has a long, straight road that aligns with the castle, known as the Long Walk. We started our day out in Windsor itself and walked around the castle to the beginning of the Long Walk. I took some photos looking out into the park with the many people walking up the road. However, we weren’t going to join them yet.

We drove to the other side of the Great Park to have a longer walk (get it) around the parklands. As part of this route, we did end up at the statue of George III on his horse at the other end of the Long Walk. From here you have a great view back towards the castle. There were loads of people at the statue. Most had clearly walked up from the town and would be heading back. We were heading in a different direction, though.

Keep a Safe Distance from These Guys

This post is another on a bit of a theme at the moment. While walking through Windsor Great Park, we made a loop that brought us to the statue of George III at the end of the Long Walk. As we started to head back to our starting point, I realised the route we were taking was not really the best, so we retraced our steps and headed south down the hill. Almost immediately, we got a surprise.

Just a short distance away from the statue with the many visitors that were there on a sunny weekend afternoon was a large herd of deer. This included some quite chunky looking stags that seemed quite aware of our presence. We gave them a wide berth and, while a grabbed a few shots with the long lens, I didn’t fancy attracting any more of their attention than we already had.