Windsor foot and mouth relief for Queen

The Queen will once again be able to ride her horses and take her dogs running through her 5,000 acre Windsor estate when it reopens this week following the foot and mouth outbreak.

Windsor Great Park was closed in mid-October as it fell within a six-mile surveillance zone imposed around the farm at the centre of the Egham outbreak.

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As well as the National Carriage Driving Championships, end of season matches at the Guards Polo Club, where Princes William and Harry regularly play, were cancelled.

But with the threat now eased, the historic park, with its deer, pigs and rare cattle breeds, will today reopen to the public - including the Royals who, like everyone else, were subject to the ban on horseriding and dogwalking.

The Crown Estate's Philip Everett, Windsor Great Park's deputy ranger, said staff had missed the joggers, horse riders, walkers and cyclists who normally fill the Surrey and Berkshire park every day.

"It has been a difficult time for everyone involved in the foot and mouth outbreak and I would like to thank our visitors, supporters and residents for being so patient throughout the period of the park's closure," he said.