So we drive straight past it the first time, missing it entirely for the frankly rather feeble (but much better signposted) Nymphsfield Long Barrow, long since ploughed over and destroyed. A hint: park at the small gap where the sign (for "Uley Long Barrow") is. It's then a short trek over the fields to get there.
And wow, this rivals West Kennet anyday. It's much more intimate, yet almost more majestic. Maybe because it's on less of a grand scale. Crawling in over the gravel, it's a marvel to be able to almost stand. Suddenly the world is quiet and dark. Sit in one of the central chambers (bring a torch) and just soak it all up. It's perched just on the edge of a Cotswolds escarpment, and it's nice to be able to think that it would be able to be viewed from the valley floor even now if the trees were cut back a little. And the shape of it is so distinctly feminine.
A sad sign of progress, though: "Hi Julian" scraped onto the British Heritage plate on the gate. .
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