May 23, 2018 — Thatched houses and ancient Avebury

Relaxed start today. We're not going far. We drove to Sandy Lane recommended by our hostess for thatched houses. She was spot on. We parked at The George Inn and walked through the tiny village taking pictures of lovely thatched houses.

Then we drove on to Avebury, the largest stone circle in the world. We parked for free at the National Trust parking lot. It’s a bit of a walk to the actual site, but we were warmly welcomed when we arrived. We belong to the Royal Oak Society (American National Trust affiliate) so they immediately knew we were from the USA. We got our (free) timed tickets to Avebury Manor and walked over. Tried to see the church but there was a service so we saved it for later.

Entered the Manor House via the garden and were greeted by a very friendly and knowledgeable docent. When we got to the dining room, they had a 1700s exercise chair on display and a tourist from Australia was teased into demonstrating it. He did well and we all got photos. Avebury Manor House, High St, Avebury, Marlborough SN8 1RF; tel: +44 1672 538016; Click here for Avebury Manor National Trust web site

Zipped through the house and were persuaded into the tea room to see the library. It smelled so good we stayed for lunch. Ed had a meat pie and I got the quiche. Both came with three salads. No wine so we had lemonade. Carrot cake for dessert . . . all very nice and then we walked through the gardens, the Stable Museum and the church.

The high point was walking the stone circles. Some of the stones are huge and they’re spread out over four large fields, one with sheep so we walked with care . . . Many people don’t realize the henge is the built hill surrounding the stone circles. They think the stones are the henge. Avebury is interesting in that you really don’t get a concept of how large it is unless you look at it on a satellite map. When you search for Avebury, suddenly you see the huge mound surrounding the tiny village and realize the breadth of the earthworks. The current theory is that the stones are an observatory and the henge (hill) surrounding them is an artificial horizon to make it possible to measure distances by triangulation. It would work . . .

We went through the small, incomplete museum and bought gifts in the henge shop. Walked back . . . way back . . . to parking and drove to Lacock for some groceries. My phone wouldn’t load Google Maps at Avebury and our Garmin GPS lost its satellite connection just outside of town. Fortunately, the phone came to life and got us to Lacock because Garmin never did find the satellite again. There is much to be said for paper maps!