The Windsor Festival

20 September - 2 October, 2005

If you are visiting London or the Thames Valley over the next two weeks check out one of the finest arts festivals in the country, The Windsor Festival. Not only will you enjoy the performances and events that you attend, you will also enjoy the venues in which they are held. The activities range from heritage walks and tours of historic places to art exhibitions, literary talks, films and concerts by local and international performers and dancing.

We have attended a wide variety of offerings over the past 8 years and have found them to be most enjoyable, educational, and a way to partake of an experience that cannot be duplicated. In the past we have heard ballads sung in the Windsor Castle dungeons, flamenco dancing in the Waterloo Room, opera in the Chapter Library and St. Martin of the Fields orchestra and chorus in St. George's Chapel. We have enjoyed literary talks by Earl Spencer, William Hague, Bernard Cornwell and Robert Harris, some of which were given in the historic Windsor Guildhall or on the grounds of Eton College.

This year proves to be the best yet with a wide variety of performances and an expanded venue to include places like, the Royal Chapel and the Cumberland Lodge in the Windsor Great Park, Windsor Castle, St. George's Chapel, Royal Holloway College, the Guildhall, Stoke Park and Eton College.

If you are staying in Windsor,local hotels include the Castle Hotel, The Harte and Garter and the Christopher Wren House. Just outside of town is the country house, Oakley Court. If none of those work, check out the local B&B's - Windsor abounds with them!