An exploration of the Thames Valley can begin in the lively town of Windsor, favorite home-away-from-home of Britain's Royal Family. From there you can follow the river to Henley-on-Thames, site of the famous regatta, and then make a counterclockwise sweep west to Ewelme, the countryside immortalized by Kenneth Grahame's The Wind in the Willows. You can head north to Oxford next, and end with a visit to some stately homes and palaces. The area also has many tiny villages hidden from the major highways.