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Ascot Village and Racecourse

Ascot is a village 6 miles south of Windsor. Most famous for being the home of Ascot Racecourse

In the film of the Musical My Fair Lady Audrey Hepburn shouts "move yer bloomin' arse" while watching a horse race at Ascot. Every year the English royal family attend Royal Ascot week and undoubtedly think similar thoughts as the horses race around the track. The royals have been coming to Ascot races for almost 300 years.

my fair lady at ascot races

History of Ascot

In the year 1711 Queen Anne was out riding when she came upon an area of open heath called 'East Cote". She decided that It looked like an ideal place for “horses to gallop at full stretch.” The first race meeting ever held at Ascot took place on Saturday 11 August in the same year with just seven horses taking part.

Royal patronage has remained strong and monarchs have owned horses that race at Ascot. In fact our own Queen Elizabeth II has had 19 Royal Ascot winners so far. The racecourse itself underwent a massive modernisation in the first few years of the millenium. The grand stand is an architectural marvel.

ascot grandstand

Hotels in Ascot

Ascot has a number of country hotels in the area and the towns of Windsor, Maidenhead, Wokingham and Sunningdale all provide additional accomodation during races week.

Ascot Village

The village of ascot itself has a number of excellent shops, including a great traditional family run butcher (C E Lewis) providing really top quality meat.

There is a Budgen supermarket for other groceries, and because this is one of the richest parts of England, Ascot has several luxury car dealerships.

Local dog walkers have access to the heath around which the racecourse has been laid, enabling them to walk the inside perimeter of Ascot racecourse, effectively seeing the place from the jockey's point of view.