Places to explore near Reading

The broad-beam crossing of southern England — river, canal and river again from Bristol's Avon to the Thames at Reading, over the chalk by the Caen Hill flight.

0.4 km SE · spans 5 counties

The river from its Cotswold trickle to the Thames Barrier — the gentlest long walk in Britain.

1 km NE · spans 7 counties

The non-tidal Thames — 45 locks of managed river between Cricklade's meadows and the tideway at Teddington.

1 km NE · spans 7 counties

Beech woods and chalk downland within easy reach of London, laced with old ridge paths and grazing red kites

2.8 km NW

Old Thames village of brick-and-timber houses, a many-arched medieval bridge and the Mill theatre set on its own island.

5.1 km NE · Berkshire

Rolling chalk downland above the Vale of the White Horse, threaded by one of Britain's oldest roads

5.3 km W

Thatched Chiltern-edge pub near Henley with a game-heavy menu, cited by the Times and olive.

6.9 km NE

Thames-side village dining pub near Henley, an olive best country pub.

7.4 km NE

A terraced 1850s garden of stone staircases below an Elizabethan house.

9 km W

Picturesque riverside town famous for its Royal Regatta, with a five-arch bridge, riverside walks and the rowing museum.

10.6 km NE · Oxfordshire

Palladian mansion in Thames-side parkland.

11.2 km NW

Georgian country-house hotel with a biodynamic home farm supplying its restaurants.

12.3 km S

Secluded woodland pub above Hurley in the Chilterns fringe.

13.9 km NE

Cricket-green village pub near Maidenhead run by chef Dominic Chapman.

14.3 km E

Tiny one-man village pub-restaurant in the Chilterns near Maidenhead.

15.1 km NE

Estate village of brick and flint cottages round a square and pump, in a dry valley off the Thames, a favourite film location below the beech hangers.

15.1 km NE · Buckinghamshire

A restored heathland country pub in north Hampshire named a regional winner in 2024.

15.6 km S

Held by one Catholic family for 800 years, where Edmund Campion secretly printed in 1581.

16.2 km N

Ancient wooded common of oak and heath crossed by an avenue of old trees, one of the largest commons in the county.

16.7 km W

Beer served through a hatch in a panelled Downs pub kept by the same family for over 250 years, filled rolls and no music.

16.8 km NW

Tudor mansion mirrored in its lake.

18.1 km SW

Brick-and-flint hamlet in a steep Chilterns bottom, a hilltop windmill above it, much filmed for The Vicar of Dibley and Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.

18.7 km N · Buckinghamshire

White smock mill on the hill above Turville, familiar as the home of Caractacus Potts in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.

19.1 km N

Georgian Thames town below the Chilterns with a suspension bridge, an all-saints church by the weir and a high street of pubs and independent shops.

19.1 km NE · Buckinghamshire

Chiltern-foot village with a spring-fed brook, watercress beds and a rare surviving group of medieval church, school and brick almshouses.

19.5 km N · Oxfordshire

Riverside village of flint cottages and a Norman church, better known now for two three-Michelin-star kitchens by the Thames.

19.8 km E · Berkshire

Heston Blumenthal's experimental restaurant in the Thames-side village of Bray.

20 km E

Heston Blumenthal's historic village pub, a Michelin-starred dining destination named best pub for food in 2024.

20 km E

Microbrewery at Marlow Bottom with a beer shop and tours, brewing real ales since the early 1990s.

20.7 km NE

Famous Thames lock and weir at Maidenhead, once the busiest on the river and a fashionable Edwardian boating spot.

21.2 km NE

Small Thames island park at Maidenhead by Boulter's Lock, with riverside gardens, an aviary and a café.

21.3 km NE

Tasting-menu restaurant within a country estate hotel on the Surrey heaths.

21.6 km SE

Thames-side village of Stanley Spencer, who painted its riverbank and church and is remembered in a gallery on the high street.

22.1 km NE · Berkshire

Purpose-built rowing lake by the Thames near Eton, the 2012 Olympic rowing venue, ringed by a public parkland loop.

22.3 km E

Italianate mansion above grand Thames-side gardens.

23.2 km NE

Historic high street, canal and King John's castle ruin.

23.3 km S · Hampshire

Twin beech-crowned chalk hills above the Thames, Round Hill and the Iron Age hillfort of Castle Hill, with wide views.

23.9 km NW

Palladian house with lake and hilltop follies.

24.3 km NE

National Trust village of a single old street below West Wycombe Park, the Dashwood mausoleum and golden-balled church crowning the hill above the Hellfire Caves.

24.4 km NE · Buckinghamshire

Network of chalk tunnels dug into West Wycombe hill for Sir Francis Dashwood's Hellfire Club, running some 260 metres underground.

24.6 km NE

Hexagonal flint-walled roofless mausoleum crowning West Wycombe Hill beside St Lawrence's golden ball, built for the Dashwood family.

24.6 km NE

A country park in Berkshire.

24.7 km W

Former Norman abbey church on a Saxon cathedral site, famous for its sculpted 14th-century Jesse window in the chancel.

24.7 km NW

Small former Saxon cathedral village near the Thames, its long street of old cottages and inns gathered round Dorchester Abbey.

24.8 km NW · Oxfordshire

A Berkshire chalk river from the Marlborough Downs to the Thames at Reading, shadowed most of the way by the Kennet & Avon Canal.

0.4 km SE · Berkshire & Wiltshire

The Chiltern Society's grand loop through four counties of beechwood and chalk, grown from a Millennium project into 177 miles.

4.2 km NW · spans 5 counties

Old riverside inn at Sonning where spit-roast duck turns in the window and the terrace looks over the Thames to Willow Island.

5 km NE

Timber-framed 16th-century inn beside Sonning's church, all low beams, log fires and a courtyard off the lane to the river.

5.1 km NE

A country park in Oxfordshire.

5.4 km NW

A country park in Berkshire.

5.9 km E