Windsor & Eton Riverside

WINDSOR & ETON RIVERSIDE Windsor & Eton Riverside is Windsor’s second station, a slightly slower route to London than the shuttle from Windsor & Eton Central to Slough (which picks up the Inter City service from London to Paddington). Commuters from both stations benefit from Windsor’s attractive mix of quaint old streets below the castle, smart new shops – everything from old family businesses to chain stores and a branch of Fenwick’s – and a monthly farmers’ market. It also has the 4,800 acres of Windsor Great Park close by. Georgian houses cloak Castle Hill, and pepper the centre of the town, which is composed mainly of Victorian terraces. A small cottage in need of improvement will start at £270,000; a three-bedroom house within walking distance of the town centre £400,000 to £475,000 and half as much again if very charming. The west and south of Windsor evolved in the Thirties and Fifties and semis now cost over £295,000. Development is restricted by Crown lands and green belt. At Imperial Park, a large estate on old Haileybury School grounds, apartments sell for £275,000, three-bedroom homes start at £575,000 and six-bedroom detached houses cost £1.25m.

The most fashionable locations are in the Golden Triangle around St Leonard’s Hill, King’s Road, Adelaide Square and Bolton Avenue. Newish four- to five-bedroom houses at King’s Keep on Bolton Avenue sell for an average £684,000. In Clarence Crescent, another desirable road, Victorian four-bedroom houses start at £1.5m.

Old Windsor, south-east of the town, was described in the Domesday Book as the third largest town in Berkshire. It had a wooden Saxon palace, which deteriorated after William built his castle and the town was reduced to a village. Today, Old Windsor it is a small town with parades of shops, a post office, a bank and a convenient bus service into Windsor for major shopping. Large detached houses, some with river frontages, are a main feature of the market. The Friary is the road to aim for, where Victorian houses and modern infills in good-sized grounds cost £600,000 to £1m. The main road is fringed with Twenties-built houses from £270,000, one or two large enough to satisfy those who want a private estate close to London. These are the choice cuts in estate agents’ windows, with price tags over £1m. Elton John occupies one. Two large housing estates provide less expensive homes, priced lower than their equivalents in Windsor where communications are better. Those who choose Old Windsor do so for its more rural atmosphere, fishing, boating, and lively community spirit with plenty of sporting and social opportunities. The Windsor Farm Shop, in converted potting sheds on the edge of Home Park, sells products from the royal farms, Duchy of Cornwall and local specialist suppliers.

Eton is full of antique shops, restaurants and schoolboys in wing collars and tailcoats. Inevitably, there is something of an us-and-them atmosphere. A two-bedroom Victorian cottage on the High Street could cost £325,000. Swanky luxury apartments have appeared at Eton Riverside, with one-bedroom flats from £330,000 and penthouses selling at up to £1m.