Local Knowledge

Taxis

Some of the smaller towns have limited taxi services. Your best bet is to get your hotel to sort out there-and-back drop-offs and pick-ups.

Tipping culture

A service charge is normally added to restaurant bills; if not, then ten to fifteen per cent is appreciated.

Packing tips

Maps, for exploring on foot and in the car. Although stout boots and waterproofs are useful if you fancy a hike along the local nature trails, it’s also worth ensuring that you’re suitably smartly togged if you plan to dine fine in one of the larger towns' surprisingly swish bars and restaurants.

Recommended reads

Although he hardly enjoyed his experience of Berkshire, Oscar Wilde’s The Ballad of Reading Gaol is an ironic, and yet captivating, choice. In Jerome K Jerome’s entertaining Three Men in a Boat, the titular trio travel the Thames; Kenneth Grahame’s The Wind in the Willows encapsulates the English dream of riverside life.

Cuisine

From fine dining in fashionable surroundings to trencherman lunches in oak-beamed pubs, this part of the world is a hive of culinary activity. The village of Bray in particular has amassed more than its fair share of Michelin accolades, with a brace of three-star eateries. Heston Blumenthal’s restaurant, the Fat Duck (01628 580333), is on the High Street – or try his Tudor gastropub, the Hinds Head (+44 (0)1628 626151), across the road. Beside the river on Bray’s Ferry Street, Alain Roux heads up the Waterside Inn (+44 (0)1628 620691), which also enjoys treble-star status. However, this is a part of the world where traditional Sunday lunches of roast beef still hold sway; venture into a cosy pub to sample the best.

Regional specialities

Eton Mess, a haphazard but tasty mash-up of strawberries, cream and meringue, is the Berkshire school’s most famous export after Conservative party leader David Cameron, and dour-sounding yet delicious Brown Windsor soup is a steak-and-stock Victorian favourite.

Currency

Pound sterling.

Dialling codes

Country code for the UK: 44.

Do go/don't go

June, July and August are the best months for British weather but, frankly, we’ve often found that a fresh spring morning or a crisp, cold autumn or winter’s day is the best way to enjoy southern England’s countryside delights.