Windsor Great Park covers 4,800 acres, parts of which are open to the public. Its present area was determined in the 1360s and was popular with Saxon kings as a hunting forest.
The park today is the perfect place for picnics, walking, cycling and horse riding. A footpath map of the park is available from the Royal Windsor Information Centre. Accessible from Windsor town centre on foot via the Long Walk, or car parks are located along the A332 that goes through the Park. Alternatively you can drive to Virginia Water and park at Blacknest Gate for a walk around the lake, where you will pass a totem pole and miniature waterfall.
The park is shrouded in mystery and legend and for over 1,000 years the story of Herne the Hunter has been told. His ghost still appears wearing the antlers of a stag, riding a phantom black stallion at the head of a pack of black hounds. He appears to warn of times of trouble and gallops through Windsor Great Park only to disappear into thin air.
