I had visited Stonehenge a couple of times in the distant past and felt the same as many do i.e. that it is a soulless monument made worse by the security, the fence, the crowds and the poor excuse for a visitors centre. I just took a few photos ticked the ‘been there’ box and never when back….until a few years ago.

I had found out that you can pay some extra dosh and not only visit the stones but walk among them either one hour before or one hour after normal opening hours. There were various do’s and don’ts attached to this but it allowed you to visit with only a couple of dozen others present.

My son and I visited one cold and frosted morning in early December. The skies were near clear with just enough cloud to give a spectacular sunrise and inside the monument the stones feel much bigger as they tower over you. Despite the rules you could touch the stones and the whole place took on a very special atmosphere in those circumstances. There were probably only about 20 of us in total and most of them only stayed half an hour so we almost had the place to ourselves. The security guys stayed present but outside the circle so you could easily just ignore them.
Ideally Stonehenge would be totally free access but before you dismiss this place for the normal reasons as stated here give the place a second chance and do what we did by visiting outside normal hours. It was worth every penny by a long way and if it wasn’t for the fact that it is not totally free access would be in my top 3.


:o)

Scubi