Hi NZ,
We are successfully out of london!! We got a taxi to Waterloo station and people watched for an hour or so, then caught the train to Salisbury for the princely fee of £15 in total! Matt and Michelle who we met in Fiji and are picking us up, had found a website that offered cheap train tickets, so was fantastic and no crowds at all. Arrived there in an hour and a half, met them at the station and drove to Stonehenge - really eerie to come up over a hill and there it is in the middle of nowhere!
It was poignant for me also, as we have a photo of Mum's Dad standing at the stones when he was shipped off to war, then one of Mum there and now here I was in the same place with my daughter. There were large black ravens there also which added to the feeling of the place.
Next we drove on to Avebury which, for some reason is not famous but smaller stones completely encircle the entire village. There is no entrance fee here, actually it is just a sleepy village where you can roam the fields, touching the stones, it was pretty exciting as this place had a different feel to Stonehenge. There was also a large hill called Silbury hill which is 5000 years old and the largest man made hill in the world. Query why they built it though?? . We had our first english pub lunch in Avebury too- was lovely, then we walked the village grounds old church and cemetry.
After this we went to the Cotswolds and Matt and Michelle had researched a hotel called Hinton Grange Hotel for us all. They had even previously visited it and the rooms to decide which we would have. It was absolutely magical- a choclate box cottage built in the 1400's, with a four poster bed and a rolltop bath in the room. Wisteria growing on the verandah and a pond outside finished the fairytale for us.
We went out for dinner at an upmarket pub on the river in Bath where we sat in the evening sun having a drink and a meal - couldnt have got better actually. It has been great to have met up with friends and been chauffered around the countryside like this!
3 comments:
You can't leave us hanging... we absolutely have to know why they built the man made hill!!!!
Stonehenge sounds fabbo. I love that you found the little village with all the stones surrounding it thats not "made it" in the fame game. Those sounds like the cool places to visit the ones not many people know about.
Wish they had Marks and Spencers here, you hear so much about how good it is....can you take a photo for me next time your in one. hehehehe (If security allows it)
Well sunny here today but weather is cold. I am already wearing merino's and we've lit the fire 4 times already. Bring on the snow!!!!
Cath
Silbury Hill is the largest man-made mound in Europe. Started in about 2660 BC it was built up in three stages, covering about 5.5 acres, its 60 degree slope rise s130 ft high. It's actual use is guesswork. The henge which surrounds Avebury, the nearby village, is the largest built.
Lots of facts except why was it built?
hmmm who is the anoymous who has all the info???
Need to state your name to claim fame!! I was going to suggest it was built as part of some wartime depression work scheme- where the men moved soil from one point to another like they did in our war years??!!
You are right though Cath, finding an out of the way place with the stones was great, we just came round the corner and there they were. Of course Avebury also has a small village so the atmosphere is different to stonhenge, which stands alone in the fields.
As luck would have it, Michelle had been told about Avebury and she has a sat/nav system in the car where you just program in the name and it finds it for you down to the metre!
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