Windsor is surrounded by parkland, and a good deal of it is part of the royal estate. A park or open space is a couple of minutes' walk from most front doors. The Thames is close by. The town has around fifty pubs and a similar number of restaurants. It is a busy town with some of the best surroundings in Berkshire.
Green space is very close. The nearest park or open space averages about 140 metres from a Windsor home, and there are about 27 within a kilometre. Home Park is right beside the castle, and the town's cricket, rugby, hockey and archery clubs all play there, as does the Datchet Dashers running club. Windsor Castle and Home Park, Frogmore Gardens and Royal Lodge are all registered historic landscapes, so the grass on your morning run is graded heritage.
Water is close too. The nearest river, lake or pond averages about 430 metres from a home, with about 27 within a kilometre. The Thames is the main one, forming the boundary with Eton. Windsor Bridge now carries only pedestrians and cyclists, so walking to Eton is often quicker than driving.
The National Cycle Network averages about 710 metres from a home, and about 44% of the area is close to a route. The route through town runs between London and Fishguard. There is no ancient woodland inside the area itself.
The Valuation Office's rating list has 1,269 rateable premises in Windsor. Among them are 503 shops, 50 pubs, 58 restaurants, 373 offices and 35 holiday lets. These are premises on the list, not a count of businesses open today. Even so, the mix shows a town built around shopping and visitors, with a sizeable office economy behind it. Holiday lets are on the list too, a sign of how many visitors the castle brings.
Fine-particle air pollution across the Windsor and Maidenhead council area averaged about 7.4 micrograms per cubic metre in 2024. That figure covers the whole borough, not Windsor's streets alone.
The town spreads out from the castle. Clewer and Dedworth are to the west, Old Windsor to the south, and Eton and Eton Wick are over the river. Datchet and Oakley Green sit on the edges. The football club, Windsor & Eton F.C., plays at Stag Meadow, a ground King George V granted to the original club in 1911.
Private gardens matter more than the area figures suggest. There are about 98,000 square metres of private garden for every 1,000 Windsor residents. That's a decent amount for a town where about a third of homes are flats, and the houses outside the centre hold most of it.
Food standards are good. Of the 316 food premises rated for hygiene, about 77% have the top score of five, and about 5% are rated low.
Windsor has no national landscape designation and no ancient woodland. Windsor Forest and Great Park Site of Special Scientific Interest only touches the edge of the area, covering well under 1% of it. Most of the green land here is protected because it belongs to the royal estate rather than by conservation law.
The surroundings are Windsor's real strength. Residents have more green space, river and parkland within a short walk than almost any town buyer gets, and they pay no entry fee for it.