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I'm going to Stonehenge tomorrow. Any suggestions of where to go for a good lunch nearby and any other things to see/do in the local area? No bikes this time.
[url= https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Avebury ]or Avebury Stone Circle[/url]
Silbury Hill, on the way to Avebury. West Kennet longbarrow too.
Ask some banshees? They do live well.
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Good luck with that, there's often queues to get in the car park!
Couple of suggestions of what to do: on foot cross the A303 to a byway leading to Normanton Down. It's full of tumuli and doesn't take long til the traffic noise disappears. Lovely area for walking on a sunny day.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Normanton_Down_Barrows
You'd need to pre-book a tour to see the Great Bustard, taken by Landy from the Avon Valley to Salisbury Plain, binoculars are supplied. The birds are huge!
Salisbury - used to use the cafe in Waitrose all the time when we lived down there.
Now got 3 kids so not sure we could afford to anymore.
Salisbury is nice though.
Devizes is a nice place to visit - lots of options for lunch, an awesome butcher ([url= http://www.walterroseandson.co.uk/ ]W.L.Rose[/url]) and a nice walk down the canal locks at [url= https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caen_Hill_Locks ]Caen Hill[/url]
Be prepared to pick your jaw off the floor when you see the 'entrance fee' - although fairly certain that's just for the centre and the bus down, think there's a public bridleway passing the stones so you don't actually have to pay any money to view the stones nearby.
How about a scenic drive? 😀 Woodford Valley is very pretty as is the Wylye Valley.
Edit: Old Sarum, more money though.
http://www.english-heritage.org.uk/visit/places/old-sarum/
Edit: ditch Stonehenge for Old Wardour Castle, wonderful ruins in a gorgeous lakeside setting and you can walk to another castle across the fields.
http://www.english-heritage.org.uk/visit/places/old-wardour-castle/
Interested on that point on the entrance fee, so are you saying I can walk to the stones themselves with the same level of access/proximity without paying? Not that interested in the centre and definitely not fussed on a bus to take me a few hundred metres!
Sorry, me again. 😳
I would park in Larkhill and walk along the byway that crosses The Cursus, this takes you to Stonehenge.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stonehenge_Cursus
keppoch - check out this map, *I think* you can get a bit closer when paying.
http://www.streetmap.co.uk/map.srf?x=415539&y=141776&z=120&sv=amesbury&st=3&tl=Map+of+Amesbury,+Wiltshire+ [Town]&searchp=ids.srf&mapp=map.srf
I visited Avebury, Silbury Hill and Stonehenge in one day a few years ago. Stonehenge was interesting, but suffered a bit from being such a popular and regimented tourist attraction. Avebury is nicer, I reckon, and there's a pub in the village in its centre. 🙂 Silbury Hill is interesting but you just get to look at it, you're restricted from going on it.
The Malet. Newton Tony.
You're welcome.
£15.50. 😯
yeah, plus the parcking charge like £4 iirc, yes that map shows there is a byway (red crosses) passing right by so yes you can get as close as you the people who pay can.
Yep, I used to cycle along the byway from Larkhill then cross over to Normanton Down. Parking charge is £5 but refundable.
There are often cars parked on the byways close by when I drive past on the 303, so it would be easy to park up and wander over.
This time of year, depending on time of day, I wouldn't be surprised if you couldn't drive into the Red Lion car park in Avebury, then go for a wander over to Silbury Hill and West Kennet Longbarrow, walk round the circle then adjourn to the pub for beer and food. It's what I usually do.
If the pub carpark is full, drive along the lane that goes off the main road opposite the carpark, this is the Herepath which runs up to the Ridgeway; if you go along there, out of the circle for a hundred metres or so, past a big red-brick house on the right, there's a small pull-in on the left where I often park, nose in, and walk back.
That's on a Sunday, when it can be pretty busy.
Silbury Hill is interesting but you just get to look at it, you're restricted from going on it
Yeah, well, that's what the signs say...
There are no guards, and no barbed wire fences, and if you look at the reverse side of the hill as you approach from Avebury you can see clear tracks up the side of the hill.
There's a clear spiral path that used to be used for ceremonial purposes, that is clearly seen on William Stukeley's engravings from the 1700's, so there's been no significant damage caused by people climbing it for four hundred years, only by idiots digging bloody holes in it!
Not that I'm openly advocating you climb it, that would be irresponsible... 😉
Do [b]not[/b] go to Woodhenge - you can't! It's not there :/
Salisbury Cathedral is pretty impressive, the tower tour is worth doing if you have the time. The museum in the close is also good. You could then have lunch in one of the billion cafes. Boston Tea Party is sensibly priced and tasty. Market will be on so you could eat there also. Personally I would drive past Stonehenge on the 303 and go to West Kennet and Avebury instead.
There's a caff on site at the visitor centre, it's not wonderful.
No, you can't get anything like as close without paying (I went in 2016), and you get only a one-sided view. They close the byways to motorised traffic at certain times so don't bank on access that way, either. As others say, go to Avebury & eat at the pub or the village cafe
Rob Hilton - Member
Do not go to Woodhenge - you can't! It's not there :/
Are you sure you are not getting confused with the [url= http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-dorset-35410668 ]'modern' one in Dorset[/url] ?
Wiki seems to think the [url= https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Woodhenge ]Wiltshire one[/url] is still there!
Wheatsheaf is nice to eat in the Woodford Valley.
Old Sarum is a fantastic place to walk round. You only have to pay to go right into the middle bit.
Stourhead is nice (west on the 303) NT place.
Can't wait to move back to that neck of the woods. My sons are a stones throw from the 'henge.
Drive up the dirt road and park right next to the henge. Next to the unwashed types with the dogs . It's free and a better view.
*the unwashed are great to chat too and sent us to the wooden henge/cuckoo stone
Salisbury Is nice go see the Magna Carta as the room it's kept in is fantastic just on its own. Drive round looking for tanks.
Wiki seems to think the Wiltshire one is still there!
It aint there cos it was made of wood! 😆 😆
Cuprinol wasn't around then 
Second the copy of Magna Carta/chapter house in Salisbury Cathedral - interesting clock there too.
+1 Avebury (and there's a village pub in the middle of the complex) and West Kennet (chambered) long barrow nearby.
Give Stonehenge a miss altogether 😉
Thank all for the suggestions! Planning to go via Avebury to Stonehenge.
There's a really good bike shop in Salisbury.
🙂
Don't buy underwear from Salisbury M&S.
The Cathedral is excellent.
Not exactly nearby but I hear Blandford Forum is nice.
Not exactly local either but the Haynes motor museum is about forty minutes away.
I live 20 mins west of Stonehenge. Salisbury is nice,+1 for the Cathedral. Stourhead is well worth a visit especially in autumn. Should you find yourself passing Hindon I can heartily recommend both pubs in the village....
1) Red Lion, Chisenbury
2) Boot at Berwick (my old local)