The County of Berkshire Overview Royal Berkshire begins at the edge of London with Windor Castle, home of kings and queens. Windsor Castle is hard to miss as you drive west from London on the M4 motorway. Besides from the Royalty aspect, the other interesting feature of the county is the old world look around the towns of Newbury and Thatcham with the picturesque villages hidden deep in the undulating hills of the scenic Berkshire Downs. As you approach Windsor from the motorway look out for the silhouetted spiky spires of the most perfect of royal churches, St. George's Chapel. The interior is an impressive design of delicate fan vaulting in unique English Gothic style. Inside the castle walls are courts, gardens, closes, nice houses and wide terraces that look over the trees and river Thames towards Eton and its college in the distance. Berkshire and parts of Buckinghamshire, Hampshire and Surrey serve as a commuter dormitory, but the area is still picturesque, with historic restaurant's, hotels, B&B's, lovely houses, parks and gardens. The river Thames winds eastwards in broad graceful curves, cutting through the beechwood clad Chilturn Hills. To the south is the Surrey heathlands and grass covered heights of the North Downs. To the west is Maidenhead, here in town was an important stop on the coach run which the smart and fashionable travelled enroute to Bath. In Maidenhead, you will find the historic Brunel's rail bridge. Also, Reading is an intersting town, it's a very old town and had a famous abbey at one time, until Henry V111 took it upon himself to suppress the religous institutions and left it in ruins. To the west of Reading is Pangbourne, and riverside Streatley has an interesting and very old cheese shop. Newbury which is close by is connected with the wool and cloth trades. Turn north to Abingdon, the county's old capital with afine county hall and has a few arched bridge over the river the Thames, and the remains of a fifteenth century abby gateway.
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The edge of the county is very high and has a grassy downland dedicated to horses and ridingschools including breeding centres around the area of Lambourn.
