Cookham Tourist Information

The parish of Cookham lies on the River Thames at the north-east edge of Berkshire, close to the border with Buckingamshire.

Cookham has three villages: Cookham Village, Cookham Rise and Cookham Dean.

Cookham Village, the original settlement, has a delightful High Street that has changed little over the centuries.

Cookham Rise, now boasting a modern shopping centre, grew up around the railway station on the Maidenhead to Marlow branch line.

Cookham Dean, an attractive residential area, is noted for its cherry blossom in the spring, and Winter Hill, an outstanding viewpoint in Cookham Dean, is now owned by the National Trust.

Today Cookham is a popular Thameside resort boasting many fine restaurants and inns, an ideal destination to visit. The Bell and the Dragon, dating from 1417, is said to be one of the oldest licensed public houses in England.

Cookham makes a good base for visitors with a number of walks along the Thames Path and for exploring nearby National Trust property.

In the third week of July the ceremony of Swan Upping takes place at Cookham. At this time the Royal Swankeeper catches all the new cygnets and assigns ownership.

Cookham has had several notable residents. The artist Sir Stanley Spencer lived in Cookham until his death. Spencer used the village scenery as the background to many of his paintings and the Stanley Spencer Gallery, is housed in the Methodist Chapel he attended.

Another famous resident was Kenneth Grahame, author of 'The Wind in the Willows', who lived at Cookham Dean with his grandmother. The writer was inspired by Winter Hill and many river scenes between Cookham and Henley.

Guglielmo Marconi, the pioneer of wireless communication, lived at Cookham Rise, where he is believed to have conducted experimental transmissions in 1897.