Moss hit it on the head with 'but it was the magic of the landscape round Avebury'.

Part of my interest in Britain's ancient sites came form the paintings of Paul Neads (mucusart.co.uk) who really brings these places to life, so I'd started to revisit some of the places I'd seen years before. Then came a copy of Burl, and the TMA website.

I knew I'd better see Avebury,. so we took a camping trip, staying near Calne. The henge, the stones, the avenue, everything was unexpectedly magical...and it was the landscape that explained it, the downs have their own magical appearance which heighten the experience.

I do a bit of painting too, so was keen to figure out why the landscape intrigued me. One reason was that the Downs don't allow long distance viewing, so it's rare in good weather to see everything on the horizon fade to blue as you get elsewhere...the Downs seem almost always technicolour.

We were excited, we read, we revisited, then my lightbulb moment came one afternoon, sitting quietly for a few hours on Windmill Hill looking out over the lot: to Avebury, Silbury, West Kennet, Cherhill and other places I've yet to discover.

Now it's all midnight visits to Castlerigg and yomping up Welsh mountains knee deep in snow!