Home Park, Windsor

Royal Park in Southern England
Home Park, Windsor

The Home Park, previously known as the Little Park (and originally Lydecroft Park), is a 2.65 km2 royal park near Windsor, Berkshire, administered by the Crown Estate of the United Kingdom. It is the private grounds of Windsor Castle. It lies mainly on the eastern side of the castle in the former civil parish of Windsor in the English county of Berkshire. The park includes the Frogmore estate, and several private organisations related to the estate have facilities in the park. To the Home Park's south is the Windsor Great Park, largely open to the public. Home Park is listed Grade I on the Register of Historic Parks and Gardens of Historic England.

The Home Park is divided from the main Windsor Great Park by the busy Albert Road (A308) towards Old Windsor. It is the private estate of the castle. As well as beautiful parkland, gardens and avenues of fine trees, it contains farmland (cattle grazing and winter feed), a golf course, a bowling green (for the Royal Household Bowling Club), a cricket field (for the Royal Household Cricket Club), tennis courts (Windsor Home Park Lawn Tennis Club), the playing fields of St George's School, Adelaide Cottage (on the site of the old Keeper's Lodge) and the Frogmore Estate, including Frogmore House, and gardens with Frogmore Cottage and a large lake, the Royal Mausoleum and the Royal Burial Ground. Also attached are Shaw Farm, the former Prince Consort's Home Farm and the Windsor Farm Shop. The grave of Dash, the favourite spaniel of Queen Victoria, can be found on the grounds.

Originally in the manor of Orton and not a royal possession, part of the area was first emparked (for deer hunting) by King Edward III in 1368 and expansion continued over many centuries. Areas of the Home Park are mentioned in Shakespeare's Merry Wives of Windsor and show that the main road to Datchet then ran through it. The famous Herne's Oak stood nearby. Oliver Cromwell trained his New Model Army in the park. George III removed the deer in 1785. The modern boundaries of the park were set by the Windsor Improvement Act 1846 and the Windsor Castle Act 1848, when the road to Datchet through the park was closed and public access denied. Frogmore House and gardens alone are open to the general public on a few specific days in the spring and summer. The Royal Windsor Horse Show and the Windsor Rose Show also take place within the park.