24 Iconic Buildings to Explore in Berkshire

Checkout places to visit in Berkshire

Berkshire

This romantic county is renowned for its connections with the Royal Family, the River Thames meandering along the northern edge and its many beautiful gardens ablaze with colour. Berkshire was recognised by the Queen as the Royal County of Berkshire in 1957 because of the presence of Windsor Castle, and letters patent were issued in 1974.

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Iconic Buildings to Explore in Berkshire

Boulters Lock

Boulter's Lock is a lock and weir on the River Thames in England north-east of Maidenhead town center, Berkshire. It is an impressive late Victorian family home filled with warmth and understanding. Elegant and welcoming, our spacious accommodation retains many of its original features to provide a safe, appealing, and comfortable home for our residents.

Cliveden House

Cliveden is perhaps one of the best-known stately homes, revered for its fabulous setting and fascinating past. The house has been home to three Dukes, an Earl, the Astors, and a Prince of Wales, each of whom left their mark on this unique setting. One of the iconic locations in this area and it attracts a number of tourists to here.

Crofton Beam Engines

Crofton Beam Engines, set in unspoiled Wiltshire countryside close to the old market town of Marlborough, is an ideal spot for exploring the Kennet and Avon Canal, with The Engineman’s Rest Café, picnic area and gift shop on site. The steam-powered pumping station is preserved and operates on selected weekends.

Donnington Castle

The Donnington Castle is a ruined medieval castle that was held by the Abberbury family from 1287. It consists originally of a curtain wall with four round corner towers, two square wall towers, and a substantial gatehouse, constructed around a courtyard in the style typical of the fortified residences of the period. The site is under the care of English Heritage and is protected from unauthorised change as a scheduled ancient monument.

Dorney Court

Dorney Court is one of England's most uniquely beautiful Tudor Manor Houses set amidst acres of mature parkland and encircled by well-tended yew hedges. This house has been lived in by the Palmer family for more than 450 years – this remarkable and characterful building has been passed from father to son over thirteen generations.

Friar Park Mansion

Friar Park House is a huge and elaborate neo-Gothic mansion surrounded by wooded parkland, originally built in the 1890s as a weekend retreat for an eccentric London lawyer called Sir Frank Crisp. It has extensive gardens and water features such as caves, grottoes, underground passages, and a multitude of garden gnomes. One of the iconic locations in this area and it attracts a lot of tourists.

Frimley Lodge Park

Frimley Lodge Park is a 24-hectare site that boasts a range of facilities for all ages and hosts events for all the family including lots of open space and woodland, picnic areas, two children's playgrounds, a trim trail, miniature railway, and meadows. The Basingstoke canal runs along the eastern boundary with a towpath and lots of space, woodland, cafeteria, miniature railway and pitch & putt course.

Frogmore Cottage

Frogmore Cottage is a historic Grade II listed home on the Frogmore Estate, part of Home Park, Windsor, which was was built in 1801 at the direction of Queen Charlotte in the gardens near Frogmore House. It is part of the Crown Estate, the monarch's public estate. The cottage was a retreat for Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, the queen consort of George III, and her unmarried daughters.

Frogmore House

Frogmore House, Standing about half a mile south of Windsor Castle in Windsor Home Park. gardens at Frogmore House have been an enduring attraction for monarchs and their families since the house was purchased by Queen Charlotte in 1790. At one time the house was the home of Queen Victoria's mother, the Duchess of Kent. After her death, her son-in-law, Prince Albert, commissioned the building of an elegant mausoleum to hold her remains.

Frogmore House and Gardens

Frogmore House was built in 1680-4 by Charles II's architect Hugh May for his nephew. It stood on the estates of Great and Little Frogmore, which were bought by Henry VIII in the sixteenth century and let to various tenants. The garden is one of the main attraction here. The house was in good condition and it has so many things to see in and outside this building.

Mapledurham House

A 12th Century family house and farming estate tucked in beside the Thames in the heart of a unique English village away from the distractions of town, Set in tranquil surroundings alongside the River Thames. It was one of the iconic attractions in this area and it will be a new experience.

National Trust - Ashdown

Ashdown House, originally a hunting lodge, looks more like a tall doll's house stranded on the Berkshire Downs. Although the architect is uncertain, it is thought that Craven commissioned Captain William Winde to build the Dutch-style mansion as a hunting lodge and refuge from the plague.

National Trust - Greys Court

A beautiful Tudor country house and garden near Henley-on-Thames in Oxfordshire. The de Grey family settled on this site by the time of the Domesday Book. It lies almost in the middle of the ancient parish and was built on a hillside terrace overlooking the valley to the south. This iconic building contains so many interesting things to see in and around. The house remains furnished as a family home, with some outstanding 18th-century plasterwork interiors. It is a Grade I listed building.

National Trust - The Vyne

The Vyne is a warm red-bricked Tudor mansion built in the 16th century for Lord Sandys, Henry VIII's Lord. It is an E-plan house of diapered red brick with stone dressings. It is one of the iconic attractions in this area and you can have a lookout to the history also.

NT Basildon Park Grounds

Basildon Park is made up of 400 acres of parkland and woodland. There are four way-marked trails that you can follow around the property. The house was built between 1776 and 1783 for Sir Francis Sykes and designed by John Carr in the Palladian style at a time when Palladianism was giving way to the newly fashionable neoclassicism. Thus, the interiors are in a neoclassical "Adamesque" style.

Queen Mary's Dolls' House

Queen Mary's Dolls' House is the largest, most beautiful and most famous dolls' house in the world. Built between 1921 and 1924 for Queen Mary, consort of George V, by the leading British architect Sir Edwin Lutyens, it includes contributions from over 1,500 of the finest artists, craftsmen and manufacturers of the early twentieth century.

Royal Lodge

Royal Lodge was an iconic building, used as accommodation for various officers of the Royal Household until the 1930s. Located in Windsor Great Park, the property was previously the private residence of the Queen Mother for over 70 years, before being gifted to Prince Andrew in 2003 following her death. Now it is one of the tourist attractions in this area.

South Hill Park Arts Centre

South Hill Park Arts Centre is a multi-purpose arts centre in Bracknell with two theatres, parklands, a gallery, a cinema and a recital room. The grounds are open to the public and include landscaped gardens, lakes and woodland, all of which surround a Grade II listed building which is now used as an arts centre.It conducts so many events.

Stratfield Saye House

Stratfield Saye House has been the elegant, but intimate home to the Dukes of Wellington since 1817. The house and gardens offer an intriguing and informative insight into the life of the Great Duke of Wellington. The house contains many of the 1st Duke’s possessions and is still occupied by his descendants, being a family home rather than a museum.

The Oracle

The Oracle Shopping Centre in Reading offers you the ultimate shopping and dinning experience. It contains 90 shops, including many famous ones and There are also 22 restaurants, cafés and bars along the riverside of the Kennet, and an 11-screen Vue cinema. It is one of the perf3ect shopping destinations with your family.

Map of Iconic Buildings to explore in Berkshire