Never had I ever been to Windsor Castle for the day. It’s known as one of the top days out in England, but I, at 35, lover of travel and England, never quite made it there, until now.

Turns out a day trip to Windsor Castle is a fabulous idea!

Windsor Castle is the oldest and largest occupied castle IN THE WORLD. It’s where King Charles chills out during his time off.

– Did you even go to Windsor Castle if you didn’t get a pic with a guard?

Windsor Castle was founded by William the Conqueror in the 11th century, in 1070, and it’s been the home of 39 monarchs since. As the longest reigning monarch, our Queen has called it home the longest.

In fact, as a child she slept in the dungeons for protection during the war.

True story.

Windsor Castle fact number 1

Windsor Castle is one of the biggest residences in the world, officially. It has around 1,000 rooms and covers 484,000 square feet. Its imposing towers are visible from every approach and it has around 13 acres of land.

Day at Windsor Castle

We spent about three hours at Windsor Castle. There are guided tours you can do, but instead I opted to get one of the free media guides instead.

These had a kids and adult option to guide you round the castle. I listed to both and they weren’t actually that different, except for the kids’ one had fun games instead. Too easy to be entertaining for me, but then, I am in my 30s.

Playing with the audio guide at Windsor Castle

These really bought the castle to life and told me more about the history, what happens here now, and how they’re planning for the future.

It just so happened that we arrived in perfect time for the Changing of the Guard parade through Windsor at 10:45am. This is basically to celebrate the guards changing shifts, but is done the OTT, totally extra, regal way, with a procession through the town.

Back inside Windsor Castle and we started with Queen Mary’s Doll’s House.

A fascinating ‘building’ built to a 12:1 scale, with everything made intricately to represent a London town house of the day. I can not even begin to imagine how much money was spent on this.

It’s now housed behind temperature controlled glass to keep it on show for years to come.

I loved it!

The tiny wine bottles had real wine in. Famous authors of the day had created