Cookham & Waltham

Cookham sits on the River Thames in the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead, spread across Cookham Village, Cookham Rise and Cookham Dean. The High Street runs close to the towpath and to Cookham Lock and Cookham Bridge, which cross and control the river at this point. Local streets and lanes retain a mix of period houses, small workshops and riverside moorings. Artist Stanley Spencer made the village the setting for many of his paintings; his studio and the Stanley Spencer Gallery remain on the High Street, where visitors can see works that depict people and places from around Cookham.

Waltham (Waltham St Lawrence) lies a short distance east of Cookham and is largely agricultural in character, with commons, farms and scattered hamlets such as Burchett’s Green. Narrow lanes, hedgerows and small watercourses link fields to the Thames floodplain, and seasonal meadows are part of local land use. Community life centres on parish activities, village halls and a few country inns, while long-established footpaths and bridleways provide access across the open and wooded parts of the parish.