Virginia Water | |
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Aerial view of Virginia Water | |
Location within Surrey | |
Area | 5.71 sq mi (14.8 km2) (2011, Ward)[1] |
Population | 5,940 (2011, Ward)[1] |
• Density | 1,040/sq mi (400/km2) |
Protected areas | Metropolitan Green Belt, Thames Basin Heaths |
OS grid reference | SU982679 |
District | |
Shire county | |
Region | |
Country | England |
Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
Post town | VIRGINIA WATER |
Postcode district | GU25 |
Dialling code | 01344 |
Police | Surrey |
Fire | Surrey |
Ambulance | South East Coast |
UK Parliament | |
Virginia Water is a commuter village in the Borough of Runnymede in northern Surrey, England. It is home to the Wentworth Estate and the Wentworth Club. The area has much woodland and occupies a large minority of the Runnymede district. Its name is shared with the lake on its western boundary within Windsor Great Park. Virginia Water has excellent transport links with London–Trumps Green and Thorpe Green touch the M3, Thorpe touches the M25, and Heathrow Airport is 7 miles (11 km) northeast.
Many of the detached houses are on the Wentworth Estate, the home of the Wentworth Club which has four golf courses.[2] The Ryder Cup was first played there. It is also home to the headquarters of the PGA European Tour, the professional golf tour. One of the houses featured in a headline in 1998—General Augusto Pinochet was placed under house arrest having unsuccessfully resisted extradition, the facing of a criminal trial in Chile.[3]
In 2011 approximately half of the homes of the postcode district, which is narrower than the current electoral ward, were detached houses. In 2015 Land Registry sales data evinced Virginia Water's single postcode district as the most expensive as to the value of homes nationwide.