Last summer an archaeo-friend took me into the Stonehenge landscape. First we went to Durrington Walls and walked across what had once been a Neolithic settlement, the hairs started to stand up on my arms … strange sensation. Then round into Woodhenge for a bit while a shower blew over.

I was thinking it couldn’t get any better when friend showed me a spring by the river Avon right at the start of the Avenue to Stonehenge. I am trying to find the right word for such a place apart from the usual mystical or sacred, it seemed to be all of those things. Walking across the Avenue, which was still intact as a raised grassy ‘road’ the word liminal came to mind. (Limen is from the Latin meaning ‘threshold’ - it was that sort of place).

There are many places around Avebury that have the same effect; again, last year in October, walking back down the Here-path into the setting sun there was a sense of timelessness – or walking through time. It is perhaps the mystery of Time that is the draw of ancient monuments.