After an interesting night on Westbury Hill, near the Iron Age Fort and the Westbury Whitehorse, we set off for Avebury Circle and Silbury Hill. As we have come to expect, not all things go smoothly, and sure enough at Devizes an accident had closed roads which meant an extra 40 minutes added to our journey. Today time was important too! Not only time but also we had to negotiate very narrow country roads in the detour. This is also Whitehorse country - we passed another two carved out on the hills as we drove by.
We didn't arrive at Silbury Hill until about midday. Had a coffee, checked out the Neolithic mound that has had folk scratching their heads for the last 2000 years as to its purpose . Even the Romans hadn't worked out what it was, and just built a road straight past the site! Clever folk today don't really have a clue as to its significance either except that it is somehow connected with the other Neolithic sites in the surrounding area. Testing has placed the building of the mound to be around 2500 BC and taking the equivalent of 500 men 15 years to build! It is the highest Neolithic structure in Europe.
A short way up the road is Avebury. It is surrounded by the giant stone circle and mounds. This also is part of the puzzle that surrounds all these monuments. It is though, a great place to get out and stretch ones legs by walking the perimeter of the stone circle. Later we checked out the museum outlining the timeline of the sites.
Later we visited Avebury Manor and fabulous garden. An interesting presentation - each room depicted a different time period linked to each of the owners.
Later we enjoyed a lovely lunch before heading off to Reading to drop Maddie at the train for her trip back to London. Always a sad time when she leaves.
We then traveled on to Cookham, one of our favourite villages in England, for our overnight stop by the Thames.
Extras:
Why did Madeleine find this so funny!!
