The West Kennet Avenue leading to the Avebury circle can easily be seen whilst driving to and from Avebury on the whilst travelling along the B4003. Originally there would probably have been around 100 pairs of standing stones.

Each pair arranged roughly  20-30cm from the next pair with the stones of each pair standing around 15m apart. The Avenue ran for about 1.6 miles from the southern entrance of Avebury henge to a double stone circle on Overton Hill, now known as the Sanctuary.*

There is a second avenue, The Beckhampton Avenue, leaving Avebury by what it now the high street. This was a similar pairing of stones leading from what is now the hamlet of Beckhampton. In 1999 stones from this avenue were rediscovered as part of a project by three universities to test for its existence. There is also speculation that there might once have four avenues but so far there is no evidence to confirm this.

Seeing the car in the first photo is a little poignant because that car was on its  final holiday adventure.

*From National Trust 2008 guide book to Avebury revised 2011.

West Kennet Avenue follows a winding course of 1.5 miles, linking the Avebury Circles with the Sanctuary.

Originally consisting of about 100 pairs of stones, the Avenue followed a sinuous course.  The stones were about 15 m (49 ft) apart and there was a span of about  24 m (80 ft) between the pairs. Several had been buried in medieval times, and others had been removed altogether. Of those remaining none were very large, between c1.4 m (5 ft) and 3 m (10 ft) high.*

The dating of the Avenue is probably slightly later than the main henge and circles, probably c 2300BC, although no absolute dating is yet available.*

*From ‘The Prehistoric Monuments of Avebury’ by English Heritage – 1994 edition.

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.