Barbury Castle Hillfort View all content for Barbury Castle

Bless. My boyfriend chose this spot off the OS map himself as somewhere to take me. Although you seem to travel for miles down a dead-end road to get to it it's not exactly one of those isolated sites - in fact it's part of a country park so it's got quite a big car park, but you can get away from other visitors nonetheless, and it was really peaceful. It's so easy to get to and would be ideal for anyone with mobility problems / prams etc - you can drive up onto the ridge (the edge of the Marlborough downs), park your car, and walk along the level Ridgeway to the hillfort. Barbury Castle is surrounded by two impressive banks and ditches (more in some places) and has 360 degree views. The castle's iron age, but there are bronze age bowl barrows and even a disc barrow nearby, which maybe I'll get back to some time. The site is on chalk grassland so there are lots of chalk loving plants and the butterflies they're associated with. Sarsens were used around the two entrances, and you can see some of them poking through the soil. A farm near the carpark has a little outdoor cafe selling food and drinks which I was very grateful for at the time - all this is the opposite end of the ridge to the hillfort and it's fine, don't be put off by thinking the place has been 'countryparkified'.

Posted by Rhiannon 3rd September 2002ce

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