The Ultimate Egham Bucket List: Things You Have To Do Before You Graduate

A dome sits in a meadow just outside town, marking the spot where a king once put his seal on a document that still shapes how power is checked today. That is Egham in a single image. History close enough to touch, London close enough to catch a train to, and a campus built like something out of a French chateau. Three years go fast. Here is what is worth making time for.

What’s inside the Founder’s Building?

Queen Victoria opened it in 1886, and it still looks the part. It has a façade modelled on French chateau architecture and is today home to around 500 students, a chapel, a dining hall, a library and the Picture Gallery. That gallery holds Thomas Holloway’s own Victorian art collection. Royal Holloway runs free tours of it through most of the year, though they stop completely during exam season between April and June. A longer, chargeable Founder’s and Gallery Tour also runs for more time with the paintings.

Why does everyone talk about Runnymede?

Because it has earned a reputation. This is the actual meadow where Magna Carta was sealed in 1215, now looked after by the National Trust. The memorials scattered across the grass are worth slowing down for, too. The domed Magna Carta Memorial, a JFK memorial, Hew Locke’s twelve bronze Jurors chairs marking the document’s 800th anniversary, and Mark Wallinger’s Writ in Water installation. Getting in is free, though the National Trust charges for parking unless you’re a member.

Is the Air Forces Memorial worth the walk?

Yes, and it changes the tone of your afternoon. Up on Coopers Hill in Englefield Green, the memorial was finished in 1953 and holds 20,456 names, airmen and airwomen from the British Empire’s air forces who died in the Second World War with no known grave, cut into stone by country and squadron. It was one of the first post-war buildings ever given listed status, and standing inside it, that feels earned.

Does Thorpe Park hold up once the novelty wears off?

It does, mostly because it is so easy to get to. The number 441 bus covers the 5.3 miles from Egham in around 37 minutes, so there is no car and no real planning required. Go on a weekday during term time, and you will spend far more of the day on rides than in queues.

How real is the “London is right there” promise?

100% real. South Western Railway runs direct trains from Egham into Waterloo, the fastest in about 41 minutes, with two or three an hour throughout the day. A day in the capital can start as a decision made over breakfast, not a trip planned a week in advance.

What about Virginia Water and Windsor Great Park?

Treat it as a half-day, not a stroll. It is around seven and a half miles from Egham through royal parkland, so give yourself an afternoon with good light, ideally spring through autumn. If the full distance feels like too much, walk out and bus back from Windsor.

Worth knowing before you go

• Founder’s Building tours pause for exams every April to June, so book earlier in the year rather than assuming you’ll catch one before you finish.
• Runnymede on a weekday morning is close to empty. Weekends bring coach parties.
• The Virginia Water walk splits neatly into an out-and-back if seven and a half miles round trip is more than you fancy in one go.
• Thorpe Park’s quietest days are ordinary term-time weekdays, not the weekends everyone else picks.

None of this needs to happen in one manic final term. Spread it across your degree, and Egham stops being just the town where you slept between lectures. Looking for a base close enough to Royal Holloway to make it easy? Browse our collection of luxury Egham student accommodation and see what’s near campus.