Scenic country drives near London: Berkshire

Some of the most beautiful parts of England are less than an hour’s drive away from London. Start the engine, says Ashley Coates
Image: Oswald Bertram/Geograph
Ashley Coates28 September 2016

A day of winding roads, country pubs and historic towns awaits any motorist keen to escape the capital without using a whole tank of petrol. Start your journey by getting onto the M4 or A40, and take Junction 13 of the M25 at Staines, following signs for Old Windsor.

You are still in Surrey rather than Berkshire at this stage, but take the third exit of the roundabout at Junction 13 and you will enter Runnymede Meadow, a fittingly dramatic location for the sealing of the Magna Carta in 1215. The water-meadow at Runnymede is intersected by a sweeping stretch of road overlooked by the Runnymede Air Forces Memorial on the left and passes the Thames on your right.

American Bar Association's Memorial to Magna Carta at Runnymede Meadow
Image: Anthony McCallum

The most prominent monuments to the Magna Carta here are actually American. Visible from the road is the American Bar Association’s Memorial to Magna Carta, an annual site of pilgrimage for fans of groundbreaking legislation. Further up the hill, there is an acre of land that was given to the US Government in memory of John F Kennedy and features a seven-tonne stone monument to the late President.

Old Windsor Lock
Image: Motmit

As you continue along the A308 into Old Windsor, hidden behind the houses is an under-appreciated and quiet stretch of the Thames path which follows the river on to the chocolate-box village of Datchet. Concealed from the main road, the path takes you past some spectacular riverside houses and rustic barges, and continues through to OId Windsor Lock. In the summer months, pleasure boats cruising down the Thames makes the lock a picture of easy-going river-living and a great place to escape to when the nearby destinations of Windsor Great Park, Savill Gardens and Windsor itself are full of crowds.

Datchet War Memorial and High Street.
Image: Poliphilo

Ignore signs for Windsor, the best driving roads are to be found if you stay on the A308 and continue on towards Datchet. Easily missed is the Royal Farms Windsor Shop that sits on a corner of this road, close to the river. Opened in 2001, the Farm Shop was a personal project of HRH the Duke of Edinburgh, who envisaged an outlet for the array of high quality local produce that is made on the Royal Estates and nearby Windsor Great Park. Treat yourself to some royal chutney while you’re there, or try out the Farm Shop’s afternoon tea.

We took Caterham's Seven 160 on this route, following the Thames from Runnymede to Dorney.
Image: Isabella Hallion

Datchet entered the Domesday Book in 1086 as “Datecha” and was well-known as the home of the Windsor Castle to London ferry, popular with royalty for many centuries. Find yourself a seat beside the fireplace in the Royal Stag pub, which will do you a good lunch in a cozy beamed pub-house building that dates from the 1500s.

Turn out of Datchet and follow signs for Eton. Not surprisingly, the first part of this town you will see is the famous school, with its lofty Eton College Chapel, the playing fields, and scores of boarding houses. It’s worth taking a stroll around the oldie-worldie shops of Eton itself, there’s a few dedicated to selling wares related to the school, and from here Windsor is just across the Thames.

Eton College Chapel, the main chapel of Eton College, dates from Henry VI's reign in the 1400s.
Image: Dhowes9

Your next stop is Dorney, home of the rowing venue during the London 2012 Olympics. As you leave Eton, the roads open up into sprawling countryside providing great locations for walks along the Thames. Dorney has the accolade of being the first place in the country where a pineapple plant was successfully grown and bore fruit, hence The Pineapple pub. The Palmer Arms is another popular drinking hole, named after the family that have owned nearby Dorney Court for the last 450 years.

Widely regarded as one of the best examples of a Tudor mansion in England, Dorney is open for tours, weddings and private functions.
Image: Kevin White

From here, you are still only an hour away from the very centre of London, making the Runnymede to Dorney route a manageable day out for an enthusiastic motorist looking to escape the city.

About the Car - Caterham Seven 160 S

For this series on great country drives around London, we’re visiting four different parts of the countryside in four exceptional British sports cars.

2017 is the 60th anniversary of the Caterham 160, and the company is celebrating by releasing a limited edition run of 60 old-style 160s. Unfortunately for enthusiasts, they were all sold a little over a week after the announcement was made at the Goodwood Revival, such is the continuing interest in this design.

Driving between lorries on the A40 in torrential rain is not the natural home of the 160. Being just a few inches off the ground means you are eye-level with registration plates and sitting no taller than the wheel of a Routemaster bus. Get it out into the countryside, and it begins to make more sense. 60 years after the first 160 made its way on to our roads, there are few British cars that can match the go-kart-style enjoyment that this car is famous for.

Specifications – Caterham Seven 160 S

Engine Suzuki 660cc, three-cylinder, turbocharged
Transmission 5 speed gearbox
Weight 490 kg
0-60mph 6.91 seconds
Top Speed 100mph
CO2 emissions 114 g/km
Fuel economy 57.6 mpg (combined)

Follow Ashley on Twitter: @Ashley_Coates.

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