Despite the fact the father of the household had to work this weekend, I wanted to continue our new plan to go walking every Saturday. I started researching walks in our area when I then had a ‘you know what?’ moment, as in ‘you know what, why don’t I just take the OS Map off the shelf and see what’s around?’ So the night before I figured out where we were going, and the next morning with water-bottles, cranberry-chip cookies, sketchpad and English Heritage membership card we set off, remembering to apply a layer of sunscreen first, especially in light of the crazy unseasonal weather we are having right now.
The terrain in our part of Wiltshire is mainly rolling – no really steep hills but sometimes you have to trudge a bit up an incline to get from point a to b. Our paths included bridleways that were a mix of overgrown stinging nettles and gloopy mud, well maintained footpaths, a little bit of walking on the road, paths through forests and of course walking across a sheep paddock with accompanying stiles and kissing gates (it’s not really walking in the UK if you don’t end up walking across someone’s field).
The first major stop on our walk was Woodhenge. Originally built of timber (hence the name Woodhenge) in around 2300 BC, the original posts have long rotted away and are now replaced with concrete markers. Willem was a little disappointed at this, though he had fun sitting on the markers, and took the time to take some photos of what is there today. If you are interested in pre-historic Britain it is worth a visit, and is near Stonehenge so worth the diversion if you are making the trip to see the more famous site. (And it’s free).
Woodhenge
To walk from Woodhenge to Stonehenge we skirted Lark Hill and wandered through a small but rather perfect little patch of forest – old trees, dark and cool but not foreboding, with sunlight streaming through in patches. It was the kind of fairytale scene that you expect Red Riding Hood to pop in to, before the wolf comes along.
Next major stop on our route was the Great Cursus. Nearly 3 kilometres long, there is not much to see today, but in its time it would have been an impressive site. It was built before work started on Stonehenge but no-one really knows what its purpose was. It must have been important though, as people dug huge amounts of earth with little more than deer antler picks and their bare hands. The name comes from the mistaken belief that it was built by the Romans as a horse racing arena. Up to this point we had also passed various tumuli and long barrows, though none were particularly distinctive and in many cases you wouldn’t know that they were there without a map.
We finally made it to Stonehenge around lunch time. This was my third visit, and Willem’s second. I have to admit that I am always a little underwhelmed by Stonehenge. I’m not sure why, but I always expect it to be a bit more, well, imposing or something. That’s not to say that it’s not worth a visit, just don’t expect anything particularly grand. It is a collection of stones in a field, admittedly with a good backstory.
No-one is quite sure what the purpose of Stonehenge is, but that hasn’t stopped many people over the ages hazarding a guess. Perhaps it is a giant calendar. Perhaps it was somewhere for druids to congregate and do whatever it is druids do when they get together. Maybe it was a site of sacrifices, or burials, or something like a church. No-one is quite sure. You can’t actually touch the stones, rather you walk around a path at a decent distance and admire them. Your entry ticket includes a free audio guide that is well worth listening to as it explains the history of Stonehenge as well as the more practical aspects of what you are looking at. We are hoping to get back for Winter Solstice, which should be a hoot.
A particularly cheeky starling
There is no public transport to or from Stonehenge, so if you are without a car or not on a tour bus you will have to walk it like us. Tickets are £7.50 for adults, £4.50 for children, and there is a family ticket for £19.50. There is a small food shop, and there was ice cream for sale the day we were there. There are a few tables and chairs, and plenty of room to set up a picnic. I remember the previous time we visited there was a flock of hundreds, if not thousands, of starlings in the field by the car park. On this visit there were only a few, but we got to see them very close up as they sat nearby, not so subtly waiting for us to drop some food (or give in and throw them some, as we did). There is also a gift shop. I had promised I would get Willem something, hoping to get a book or something about Stonehenge I could use for our upcoming Stonehenge project*, but unlike most English Heritage gift shops there were very few books and it was mainly postcards, fridge magnets, phone charms and bookmarks. I managed to find a ‘make your own’ cardboard model of Stonehenge so we will see how that goes.
From Stonehenge we walked in to Amesbury, mainly along noisy roads. Once there Willem gratefully accepted my offer for us to travel the rest of the way home by bus, and we were home by mid-afternoon. According to the GPS on my iphone we had walked about 24 kilometres. I’m not quite sure that is really correct but I’ll claim it anyway 
There are many walks to, from and around Stonehenge, many taking in other facets of the surrounding history. Many walks are circuits starting in Amesbury, or start in Salisbury. Or you could just, ‘you know what’, get out a map and figure out something for yourself. Whatever the case, you are sure to find some historical moments worth exploring. All I can say is that a walk like this just underlines how lucky we are to be living in this part of the country – not many people get to have such a famous part of the pre-historic world practically in their backyard.
* I am using the Harmony Fine Arts music and art project to also base our current history ‘themes’ on, and Stonehenge is a topic coming up soon.
