History at your Feet

For haunting scenery and mystery on a monumental scale, Wiltshire stands alone. Mellow Marlborough, with its broad high street of inviting pubs and tea rooms or the cosy market town of Devizes, on the Kennet & Avon Canal, hold little hint of the prehistoric drama waiting in the wings. On what is now The World Heritage Site of Avebury, Neolithic man raised an intricate network of ceremonial circles and avenues of great standing stones that still have the power to take our breath away. Using only the most primitive of tools, they created the mega monuments that have brooded over this open, eerie downland for five thousand years. The sentinel stones that encircle the village of Avebury; the huge, man-made mound of Silbury Hill; the West Kennet Long Barrow, with its five burial chambers or the ceremonial sanctuary on Overton Hill - all are part of this dreamy, super-spiritual landscape whose inner secrets tantalise scholars to this day. Their earliest visitors would have come on foot, following the lofty route of what is now The Ridgeway National Trail, the oldest footpath in England. This is still the best way to explore, taking time to feel the warm sun on Avebury's stones and drink in the view of clouds drifting across the downs.

Your Country Escape

A circular walk from Avebury, enjoying glorious views from the chalk ridges across this North Wessex Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. From the NT car park in Avebury, follow pedestrian signage to the Stone Circle, turning left here into the village high street. Past the church, turn right onto the road between two houses some 40m before the end of the street and go on round the sharp left hand band with its blue circle waymark on the fence. Cross the bridge and take the left hand fork in the path: go through gate, heading for a thatched cottage. Walk on through double gates and up a track to the road. Go over the road and take the path straight ahead, with houses on your right. At the road turn right, past Longstones Cottage. Turn left at the bridleway sign by the stables and go on to cross the A4361 and on to the A4, by the Wagon and Horses. Cross over and down the steps opposite the pub, then turn right along the road into Beckhampton. Just past white Butlers Cottage, take a byway sign to your left and follow the broad path for 3.5km. At a cattle grid, turn left before a metal gate to follow a wide track for 2.5km, passing earth mounds (tumuli) on either side. West Kennet Long Barrow comes into view at a T-junction with another farm track. Go right and follow the track to pass in front of barns and walk towards the house - ignoring the byway round the barns. Take the stile on your left before the bridge, with the River Kennett on your right. Ignoring the track to Long Barrow heads, turn right to the A4 and cross to the fingerpost diagonally opposite, with Silbury Hill looming behind. Through a gate, head right of the river up the A4361 for the car park and refreshment in Avebury's Red Lion pub or The Circle (NT).

Fact File

Distance 8 ½ miles; time 4 hours. Waymarked throughout with a Blue Circle. Map ref: OS Explorer 157. Details of the walk are available free on www.visitkennett.co.uk courtesy of Jonathan Manning of Country Walking magazine.

To complete your break you might also visit:
Alexander Keiller Museum, Avebury;
The Barn Gallery Exhibition, Avebury;
Avebury Manor (NT);
Kennet & Avon Canal Centre, Devizes.

Tourist Information Centre
Avebury:
Chapel Centre,
Green Lane,
Avebury
SN8 1RE
Tel: 01672 539425
Email: ATIC@kennet.gov.uk
Website: www.visitkennet.co.uk

Devizes:
Devizes Visitor Centre,
Market Place,
Devizes
SN10 1JG
Tel: 01380 734669
Email: kennet@kennet.gov.uk

Travel by train to: Swindon