Old Haunts (Visiting Avebury Ring)

Many moons ago, when I was a small wee thing, we used to visit Avebury – regularly enough for it to imprint itself on my brain as a special place…

When I was a larger (probably rather difficult) teenager, I used to also visit regularly, to get away from my (at the time) incredibly annoying family usually, and to spend time with the only people who “understood” – my fellow (probably also rather difficult!) friends…   I loved it then, and I still love it now.  It was so nice to finally take my own children there whilst back at home, something I have wanted to do for a very long time.  I got slightly carried away with the picture taking, but I won’t bore you with all of them, promise! When people ask where they should visit in the UK, I always tell them to go to Avebury over Stonehenge.  But then I only tell those that I actually like, as it should be a bit of a secret I think.   This secrecy is on the decline however, as the National Trust are now Guardians of the place, and a bit of sneaky commercialism creeps in (£5 to park your car!!), but the very spiritual atmosphere to the place will never change.  The stones are spread out over a huge area, and if you look hard enough there are stones in the outlying fields surrounding the main site.     The small triangular shaped posts are markers for the stones sadly destroyed for use in farm buildings etc. hundreds of years ago.

The nice thing about this place is that you can still get close to the stones, respectfully of course.  But I am sure they weren’t adverse to a bit of hugging from the small people.

And neither were the trees….  This small gathering of beech trees perched on top of a hill, are often overlooked by visitors, which is a bit of a pity.   The network of roots below that give the trees a firm footing are just beautiful, and the Small People were totally captivated by them, and declared them “Fairy Trees”.

And then on, past the most striking landscape and more and more ancient and noble stones – most of them thousands of years old.

A bit of advice, don’t be too disappointed if you don’t make it into the “Museum”.    I am sure that it might actually cost less to buy a local history book in the nearby shop, and sit and read it while enjoying a cream tea in the Tea Rooms.  You might even gain more knowledge that way!

An illicit stop in a bus bay for anpicture of nearby Silbury Hill, surrounded by flax;

And a picnic stop in the fields surrounding nearby West Kennet Long Barrow on the way home.  I think the Small People’s Horrible History appetite was well and truly sated that day?!

Tagged as: Avebury with Children, Lord of the Ring Trees, World Heritage Sites UK