Things you didn't know about Berkshire

Windsor Castle—which earns Berkshire its royal county status—is also the world's oldest castle in continuous occupation. It dates back to the time of William the Conqueror.

The Ridgeway is 85 miles long, running between Overton Hill and Ivinghoe Beacon, and is thought to date back to Neolithic times.

Richard Cox first grew Cox's apples in 1825 in Colnbrook.

When King John died in 1216 and his nine-year old son took the throne, William the Earl of Marshall became his protector and ran the country from his home at Caversham Park, Berkshire.

The chocolate bar is made on the Slough Trading Estate.

The marionettes were filmed in action at the Century 21 Studios in Slough.

Maidenhead's railway bridge was designed by the world-famous engineer Isambard Kingdom Brunel.

According to Restaurant Magazine's panel of 600 judges, The Fat Duck at Bray, owned by head chef Heston Blumenthal, is second only to El Bulli in Roses, Spain.

Royal Ascot offers over £3 million in prize money every day of the annual weeklong meeting.

Frogmore House, in the grounds of Windsor Castle, final resting-place of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert, was the Queen's favoured burial spot for Diana. But her own family intervened and buried her at Althorp in Northamptonshire.

Kenneth Grahame wrote The Wind in the Willows in Berkshire. The inspiration for the children's book were a series of letters from the author to his son, Alastair, which he later turned into a book while living in the Berkshire village of Cookham Dene. The author later died in the Berkshire town of Pangbourne.