Festive fun in Royal Windsor

Windsor and the Royal Borough, Berkshire have an exciting programme of festive activities and events running through December into New Year 2008. The historic towns will take on a special festive atmosphere with open-air ice skating, lantern processions, open-air carol singing, Christmas shopping and a visit by Santa Claus and his helpers.

Visitors will be able to soak up the unique ambiance and join in a variety of events as well as visit some of the heritage attractions and take in a show at the Theatre Royal where this year’s pantomime is Snow White. With so much to see and do, a choice of hotels, B&Bs and traditional inns offering accommodation and sixteen different types of cuisine in Windsor, it deserves more than just a day trip.

Riverside Ice Rink

Royal Windsor will be transforming part of its riverside park, Alexandra Gardens, into a giant outdoor real ice rink for four weeks from Saturday 8, December 2007 until Sunday, 6 January 2008.

Just a few minutes walk from the town centre, the 800square metre rink will cater for up to 250 skaters per hour with ten, one-hour skating sessions every day between 10am and 10pm. It comes compete with an integral Thames Café, which will serve hot drinks and festive snacks for skaters after their session, or for spectators to watch the action on ice. The ice rink is being provided by London-based PWR Events working in partnership with the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead.

Ticket prices, which include skate hire, are £9.50 per adult, £7 for children under 16 and £8 for concessions. A family ticket – two adults and two children or one adult and three children – will cost £28. There is no entrance charge for the Thames Café; the ice rink will be open daily apart from Christmas Day.

Tickets are available from the Royal Windsor Information Centre in the Old Booking Hall at the Windsor Royal Shopping centre; online at Royalwindsoricerink.com or from Ticketmaster, Ticketmaster.co.uk. Advance booking is recommended, especially over Christmas and New Year.

Festive Highlights

Santa will be arriving at Eton on Friday, 16 November in a Vintage Rolls Royce followed by a lantern procession at 5.15pm and carol singing by the children of Eton Porny School ready to switch on the lights at 5.30pm on the Eton side of Windsor Bridge, all sponsored by Waitrose and Intersystems; he will then be welcoming children in his grotto at the George Inn & Eatery, in Eton’s High Street. Santa will also be in his grotto on Thursdays and Fridays from 4-8pm; Saturdays from 11am-5pm and Sundays 11am-4pm until Christmas with extra visits every day during the pre-Christmas week and on Christmas Eve; tickets at £5 per child can be purchased in advance from the Royal Windsor Information Centre or at the entrance to the Grotto.

Windsor’s lights, sponsored by Waitrose, will be turned on the next day, Saturday, 17 November at 5.30pm in Castle Hill. There will also be a lantern procession starting at 3.30pm from Eton Bridge plus carol singing, live bands and family entertainment.

Windsor Royal Shopping, the retail centre in the heart of Royal Windsor, will be staging a series of festive fun-packed ‘Breakfast with Santa’ events every Saturday and Sunday morning in December, as well as Monday 24th. Held at Café Rouge with a choice of two sittings – 8.30am or 10am, there will be lots of yuletide goodies to enjoy and of course, the opportunity for children to meet Santa so they can tell him what they would like for Christmas and collect a small gift. For the first time this year there will also be a chance to have ’Tea with Santa’ at Café Rouge on Thursdays and Fridays during December at 4.30pm. Tables must be pre-booked.

Other highlights will include a live Reindeer Parade, also sponsored by King Edward Court and Waitrose, starting from Castle Hill, Windsor on Saturday, 1 December at 2pm; a Christmas Farmer’s Market from 9am-1pm in St Leonard’s Road, Windsor, also on the 1st; Carols on Castle Hill at 6pm on Friday, 14 December with the Band of the Scots Guards and a performance by the Royal Harmonics Men’s Choir on Saturday, 15 December at Castle Hill from 6pm in aid of Thames Hospice Care. And every weekend in December there will be family fun in Peascod Street from 11am to 4pm including a fun fair ride, live entertainment and children’s treasure hunt.

Further Information

Further details about the Royal Borough can be found at Windsor.gov.uk.

Assistance with booking somewhere to stay is also available by emailing Windsor.accommodation@rbwm.gov.uk.