Day 3 MESS ABOUT ON THE RIVER

You could easily spend day three outside of Royal Berkshire: Windsor is well placed for exploring some of England’s most exciting cities – London is only 30 minutes away by train, and Oxford just under an hour. However, there’s still plenty more regal countryside and important British history to be discovered.

To see where King John sealed the Magna Carta – one of the most important documents in English history – head to the rolling hills and graceful meadows of nearby Runnymede. A Magna Carta Memorial stands at the foot of Cooper’s Hill. Other monuments dot the area: visit the Kennedy and Air Forces Memorials too (nationaltrust.org.uk).

A stone’s throw across the river sits the 2,000-year-old Ankerwycke yew tree and the ruins of a 12th-century Benedictine priory. Legends abound about this spot, including that it was the very place where King Henry VIII wooed soon-to-be wife Anne Boleyn.

For a Thames trip, French Brothers (frenchbrothers.co.uk) offers a variety of cruises ( pictured), including a 40-minute Windsor round-trip (£9; year round) and a four-hour one-way sail from Runnymede to Hampton Court (£16.40; Mar-sep). Or take a leisurely restaurant cruise on the Bateaux Windsor (bateauxlondon.com).

If you’d rather keep your feet on firm ground, take to the 294km Thames Path (nationaltrail.co.uk), which runs through Windsor; for example, you could walk from Windsor to Maidenhead (13km), then catch the train back.