This trip makes an ideal FREE ‘pre school’ age child half day filler. There are lots of variants, so this is just one suggested route that a friend took me on which avoids the crowds in front of the castle. The trip includes a play in the Windsor town center park, seeing the guards trooping after changing of the guard and coffee and a play in Daniels. NOTE: changing of the guard does not always happen every day. Check the website before you go to ensure it is happening on the day you are going.

1. Drive to Windsor and park in Victoria Street car park aiming to arrive at 10am. The car park is a pay and display and does not take cards. You can pay by phone but its quite slow if you haven’t already registered your card details. Exit the car park onto Victoria Street. See the purple marker on the map.

2. Cross the road and walk along William Street until you reach the high street. Turn right and walk up the pedestrianized high street until you see an alley way on your right which takes you through to Bachelours Acre road. Continue walking until you see the park on your left (green marker on the map). You will also see the play area. This has been recently refurbished. The park would be a lovely spot for a picnic in the summer and apparently there are some small water fountains that kids love to splash in.

3. At 10:30am ish gather the troops and walk through the park and back onto Victoria Street ready to see the Guards marching past on their way up to the castle at approximately 10:45am. They pass pretty quickly so make sure you leave enough time to get there. Pink marker on map. The walk itself is no more than 5 mins but that doesn’t account for tantrums, toilet or snack breaks!

4. Now retrace your steps, have another play in the park if needed or head straight back to the high street for a coffee and snack break in Daniels department store. Yellow marker on map. The cafe is on the top floor. I recommend this place as its pleasant for adults with big windows and lots of sunshine (if its a sunny day) and there is some duplo provided for the kids. The cafe is situated next to the kids shoe department so also ideal if you need to combine a foot measure 🙂 http://danielstores.co.uk/windsor-store

If you want to make more of this trip you can go to the front of the castle to see the Changing of the Guard but you’ll need to leave more time as it does get busy there.

Where/When

Check Changing of the Guards website for dates/times when this is running.

How much

Its just the car park and coffee to pay for with this trip. The car park is about £4 for 3hr or £1.50 if you have a Windsor Advantage card. More info on car park here