All Roads Don't Lead to Stonehenge

Saying so-long to London Mum, Dad and I packed ourselves into our hired Volvo XC90 and started off on the trip to Bath, via Stonehenge and Avebury. Today’s mission...see as many stone circles as possible. It was not long before we were on our first Motorway and encountering our first (and what will be our last) “Service Stop”. Minor hissy fit later and a quick exit from the service stop we were on our way to Bassingstoke for a proper stop and some real food. Fortunately we found “Giraffe” a nice little brunch place attached to the slightly overwhelming Bassingstoke Shopping Centre where the food was great and the crazy motorway crowd were a distant memory of twats falling over one another to get their dirt tasting Starbucks triple shot latte. Much refreshed and with time on our side we were back in the Volvo with Wendy, our Sat Nav, guiding us toward Stonehenge. What Wendy did not tell us was that we were about to hit the mother of all traffic jams due to a ridiculous amount of Roadworks outside of Amesbury. Cue detour...an army barracks (beware Tanks Crossing), some crazy small town backroads and back to the same army barracks Wendy the Sat Nav was switched off and we reverted back to the beautiful book of road maps. 15 minutes later...hello Stonehenge. The lovely monoliths also known as the Hanging Stones are an extraordinary site. Due to the traffic chaos below the stone circle the crowds were significantly down so parking and entry was swift and easy. Within 15 minutes you quickly find-out, via a little bit too perky audio tour, all about the monoliths and what is known about them. With one stone circle down it was now onto the sleepy town of Avebury, the setting of creepy 70’s kids show The Children of the Stones, a town sitting inside an actual stone circle. The difference between the two UNESCO listed sites is that Avebury being that little bit harder to find is devoid of the crowds – making the experience much more intimate and real. Avebury’s walking tour allows you to wander right up to and amongst the stones (with the grazing sheep) as you follow a cute trail around the perimeter of one of the circles. Inside the village you’ll also find the stunning St James Avebury Church, which was initially erected in the 11th Century, and its surrounding cemetery both of which sit nestled amongst a series of thatch roofed cottages. A dinner at the local Avebury pub felt mandatory after this experience. Once we’d downed our food from The Red Lion we were on our way to our next pitstop...Bath.

Creepy Stone Circle Fact: Inside the Circle in Avebury we could not get any mobile phone reception...but step outside and we had full service!