After breakfast we set off for Avebury, taking in Woodhenge along the way. Unfortunately Avebury was a little bit further than we thought. We didn’t have enough time there because we had a timed ticket for Stonehenge at 2pm. The Avebury experience wasn’t helped by roadworks that made access to the main interests difficult. All we had time for was a cup of tea, a quick look at the museum and some of the stones and a brief visit to the book shop (where I regret not buying two books that caught my eye).
As we left to make our way to Stonehenge we briefly stopped to photograph Silbury Hill. Our viewpoint was not from the normal visitor carpark, but from the side of the road. From this viewpoint the hill looked particularly impressive set against the rest of the landscape.
On arrival at Stonehenge we had lunch in the new cafe before picking up our tickets from the kiosk where there was no queuing unlike my previous visits. I have to say I am very impressed with the new visitor arrangements and the re-connection of the stones to their landscape environment. More on this in a future blog post.
After the Stonehenge experience we dropped the car off at the hotel. Mum retired to the hotel to give her leg a well earned rest and Mr C and I strolled to the Cathedral so that we could enjoy the magnificent building in the sunshine (see ‘Back from my Travels’).
As luck would have it our first choice of restaurant was booked up at the time we wanted so we resorted to plan B, ending up in ‘The Haunch of Venison’. This was a perfect venue for our D-Day celebration. A charming young gentleman waited on us and the food was delicious. We found that the waiter was originally from Bromsgrove (not far from us). Along the way he told us that his potential professional football career had been terminated when he broke his leg. After the meal he and Mum (both having broken a leg) were sharing stories and comparing ankle swellings…
After the ankle comparisons we strolled back to the hotel for a nightcap before retiring for the night.
While I enjoyed Stonehenge (in the rain), Cherry, I must say I was quite happy to visit Avebury and actually walk amongst the stones (which we weren’t allowed to do at Stonehenge). I have good memories from both places.
How fun to share broken-leg stories. HA!
If you book in advance you can get to walk among the stones, before or after normal opening hours. I plan to do that one day
I think it was nice to be able to share the leg stories with each other and the ongoing problems.
I was there just two days ago, Cherie – the roadworks have been cleared, and there were not many people about
I guess it was all in the timing on our part. We are usually plagued by scaffolding. this time it was roadworks!!
We will be back to spend more time there
Interested to hear about the changes at Stonehenge. Hopefully you will have the chance to go back Avebury in the future, where as the previous commenter stated you can actually walk up to the stones. The NT property is nice there as well with an especially nice tea room. I found out how to follow you through my dashboard from a comment you left on my blog. In regard to the reader, if you sign into your blog via wordpress.com you are in the reader then. Let me know if that helps clarify.
I have walked among the stones at Avebury a long time ago. I would like to explore them further now I know more about them.
I can’t sign into this one via Wordpress because it is a self hosted blog and not on the Wordpress site. I do have a free Wordpress blog and account and use that to comment on other Wordpress blogs.
Chris took us to Avebury two years ago and the May when we flew to Bristol I saw Avebury from the plane.
A great place to visit, very fascinating.
I feel the need to go back and explore it properly sooner rather than later…
I would like to explore Glastonbury too, a place I have not been too… Yet!
Looks impressive, glad the queuing system worked for you, major sites need to sort that out these days.
I’ve never been to either of these locations as my driver in Bristol many years ago preferred locations near to the M5 corridor and Dorset coast.
Strangely enough on another and possibly related point, I regretted not buying a second hand book I saw locally in a shop window of a passenger boat that I travelled on. It operates in The Bristol Channel.
You really should go and visit all these sites. You would find them fascinating and they are very photogenic too.