After a sleep in, a shopping trip, and a lunch at home, we set off for an afternoon of Neolithic history.  Stonehenge was not our destination; instead we headed north to Avebury, and stepped back in time over 3000 years.  Avebury and Stonehenge are very different.  Avebury is a much larger site, and you can walk freely around and up to the stones.  You can even touch them, Outlander-style, though I can’t guarantee that Jaimie will appear (sadly).   There are some 200 stones here, of all shapes and sizes.  It’s believed that the site was used for celebrations, but it doesn’t have the same celestial significance as Stonehenge.  There is a massive ditch surrounding the stones, which was even deeper originally, and must have taken aeons to excavate.  The stones appear to be scattered around the small village, although of course the reverse is true.

Nearby is Silbury Hill, the largest prehistoric mound in Europe.  It was built of chalk, dug out from a ditch in stages, over 50-150 years.  It was completed in around 2300 BC.  Now, the A4 runs right beside it.  On the other side of the road is a small parking area.  Walk through a gate, along the path through the field of cows.  Go through a second gate and turn left at the wheat field.  Turn right and climb the hill.  At the top you find the West Kennet Long Barrow.  Dating from 3650 BC (yep, over 5600 years ago), this remarkable structure served as a burial mound for 50 years.  The entrance is guarded by sarsen stones, but you can go inside for a short distance.  It’s quite mind boggling to think about just how ancient this place is; we’ve worked out that it’s the oldest human structure we’ve ever been to, by a considerable margin.

From atop the barrow, strewn with grasses and wildflowers, there are expansive views in all directions. A lovely place to be on a sunny evening in Wiltshire.