Writing this on a rainy autumn Saturday, summer feels like a hundred years ago. I thought it might be nice to look back a few months to when the sun was in the sky and you didn’t need a coat and woolly hat on every walk – not that it was that long ago really.
Back in August, we spent a few days in Wiltshire while Sam was building a wall down there. Usually he sticks to North Yorkshire, but it was a quick job which was right along our drive home from Exmoor, and we were both keen to do some exploring in the Wiltshire countryside. It’s not somewhere that pops up much on Instagram, but it has oodles of historic sites and some lovely rolling countryside.
Wiltshire is home to England’s most famous prehistoric structure, Stonehenge, which is always crawling with visitors and has limited access to the stones themselves. As we were visiting over the August bank holiday, we decided to give Stonehenge a miss this time and instead headed to the nearby Avebury World Heritage Site. Still popular but not quite as mental as Stonehenge, we arrived at the carpark just after 9am, and managed to get parked in one of the last spaces in the main car park.
The stone circle at Avebury is one of the largest in the world, and arriving nice and early meant that we only had to share them with a few other people. There’s also a manor house and garden here, but dogs aren’t allowed to visit, so we just had a look around the stone circle before carrying on with our walk. It was an atmospheric spot even in full sunshine, and you are free to wander around the stones and explore as you choose (unlike Stonehenge). There’s a particularly impressive, enormous stone with a groove in which you can perch on for a photo – I couldn’t resist a quick snap of Merry.
After exploring the stones we set off down West Kennet Avenue, which is lined with standing stones and leads you towards the village of West Kennet. This was lovely easy walking along field edges, through some absolutely enormous fields, and one field of cows. While I am not a cow fan, it was hard to get too stressed out about them grazing peacefully while a chap was sitting doing yoga at the foot of a standing stone right next to them.
Arriving in West Kennet, there was a very short 100 metre or so stretch along the busy main road. This is a fast road and it wasn’t fun walking down here, but there is at least a grassy verge you can walk down for the most part. It was over quickly though, and we picked up a much quieter lane to soon re-join a footpath.
After skirting along the field edge, the path cuts across the centre of the field, climbing gently uphill to reach West Kennet long barrow. One of Britain’s most impressive Neolithic tombs, the long barrow is sited at the highest point of the field with a commanding position overlooking the surrounding countryside. The entry chamber and some alcoves are accessible and can be explored by visitors. This kind of thing fascinates both of us, but I expect if it was dark or misty it might be a little creepy – it is a tomb, after all.
Leaving West Kennet long barrow, we could see our next stop on our tour of prehistoric Avebury not too far away. Silbury Hill is the largest prehistoric artificial mound in Europe, but no one knows what its purpose was. Our route (which I’d made up on the OS maps app) took us around the base of the hill to begin our return to the start. I must confess, after the stone circle and long barrow, Silbury Hill wasn’t quite as impressive. But it still made for a nice view as we walked by.
The final stretch of the route walks along a narrow track which brings you out opposite the car park. Usually I imagine it’s pretty quiet down here, but we’d (accidentally) timed our visit to coincide with a local 10k, and we started to be overtaken by runners as we walked down here. Far more energetic than I ever feel!
Dog friendly rating: 4/5. Dogs are welcome to explore the standing stones with you, but they are not allowed in the long barrow at West Kennet. The walk for the most part is very easy going, flat and on good paths, but care is needed when walking along the A4. If your dog doesn’t like strangers or other dogs, I’d suggest going early (as we did) for a quieter walk. There were a few stiles along the way, but they either had gates or dog gates to enable dogs to pass easily. You may encounter sheep and/or cows on this walk.
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I’ve visited here although I walked up from the layby. The Ridgeway starts/finishes up the A4 at Overton and The Sanctuary and I think the footpath you walked up to get to the Long Barrow forms part of the Wessex Ridgeway which is a continuation of the National Trail although not part of it.
It is a lovely part of the country and full of history (not sure why it is a centre for Prehistoric Britiain)
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It’s very lovely – hopefully we won’t leave it too long before we return 🙂
There are a lot of places to visit in the area including around Stonehenge and the other parts of the County. It is quite large!