texlahoma

The low water level at Stithians has revealed once again these tremendous treasures, two groups of cup marked stones. Perhaps there are many more here to be found? It certainly feels like that may be the case.

It takes us a good hour to locate the stones, walking at least half the circumference of the area. Once we located the stones though it was all worth it. The heat is intense and the feeling of seeing and touching these stones is like time travel, no, IS time travel!

The obvious draught and climate change effects can’t be ignored, leaving us feeling a contridiction of the joy of discovery and the joy of a sunny and lovely day with the understanding that the very revealing of these stones presents us with harsh realities of planetary emergency.

The Little chef has now shut down and is all borded up. This does mean that for now at least the circle has a dedicated car park and pathway.

Unremarkable as this site is in itself it does give a huge amount of context to the entire surrounding coastline. These barrows along the cliff top would have been clearly visible in the right weather conditions from both Hengistbury head and across from the Purbecks. I’m intrigued by the inter connectivity of sites like Rempstone circle and the coastal road from Corfe towards the ferry at Poole where all of this strip of Bournemouth is seen opposite, we’re these barrows connected in some way with those sites. It brings another level of drama to see a barrow not just atop a prominent hill but crowning the headland itself.

Today though the site is much changed, thoroughly dug out, excavated almost completely obliterated into neatly clipped grass and an occasional bench to sit on and take in the view. If you take the time to sit on one of these benches however and look out then perhaps you can make the ancient landscape come alive again in your imagination.

(Do you have a grid reference, Texlahoma? At the moment it’s coming up somewhere off the coast of France :) Thanks – TMA Ed.)

A magical first visit to Paussac during August 2014 with two Dutch friends. It took a while to find the right road but then all of a sudden we found it, parked up and there was the Dolmen, found in the twilight of sunset as a full moon was rising above the tree lone, two little owls calling to our north and south.
This Dolmen is well worth searching out in this remote part of the Dordogne.
As the sun set the full moon rose above the line of trees, the torch lights extenuating the strange 3rd eye like recess on the underside of the capstone.

There is another Dolmen very close by but it was too dark to see where it was, just as we decided to give up the search and go back we turned a corner to a fully grown barn own that looked directly at us, starred for a time before flying in front of the moon into darkness.

I visited here in August 2014, a large cave complex which includes several examples of prehistoric art and signs of cave bear habitation. The caves themselves are worth visiting in their own right, with stalactites and stalagmites lit and shown off to great effect. The cave art has been protected from being covered by the living stone process since it’s discovery and is a joy to behold.

A very difficult place to get to this.
I feel fortunate to have seen this barrow via access from from local residents whose house backs on to the MOD land. The photos are taken from the bottom of their land.
This place is used by the MOD for grenade testing and there was evidence all around that it’s actively used. As a result there is no way of getting any closer without signing up and going out on exercise.
The barrow is in fairly good condition if quite overgrown. A shame that we can’t enjoy what is a very beautiful and mystical part of Dorset despite the military activity.

Thank you to those that fought to keep this circle for all of us to still visit and enjoy.

I visited the Nine Ladies for the first time a week ago today. What an amazing place it is. When I arrived there we’re a couple of elderly lady back packers having a rest on the stones and a traveling man hanging out in the sun with them. He was a really nice guy, blissed out with his acoustic guitar and hammock in the trees, not a bad life!

I approached in the car through Stanton on Peak, keeping straight on (left turn) onto Lees Road and didn’t follow the Brichover Road. If you take Lees Road then just keep going up the hill through the trees until you reach the brow of the hill where there is a lay-by to park and a path that will lead you towards the circle.

The Nine Ladies is a very magical place to visit for the first time, maybe every time, I look forward to the next visit to find out. The condition of the circle and the surrounding ground was well kept and mostly litter free, there was a really, really good and positive feel to the place, it regained a feeling of mystery and secrets despite the harsh treatment it has obviously been subjected to. It’s a little sad to read some of the field notes here and the sad state this place has been found to be in the past. I am happy to report I felt supercharged and in love with this ancient place that has survived and inspired people to make sure it survived against very tough odds.

My first visit to Arbow Low, and a great visit it was. The whole family all marched up there, leaving two quid in the little metal box for the two adults in our party.

After a while our youngest got bored but my daughter and I stayed and had a really good time exploring each stone and walking around the entire site, we even had the place to ourselves for a while. It was a beautiful hot dry day, a little overcast at times but when the sun broke through directly the light on the stones was amazing. This place has a real energy, it had a deep feeling of peace about it and is magnificent in scale. If you’re up this way then you have to call in and spend some time in the wonderful Arbor Low.

I’m with Jane on this being very reminiscent of Silbury, albeit a very small one, perhaps more Silbaby that Silbury then.

Anyhow, the view across to Arbor Low is great from here and the landscape itself very beautiful.

Access couldn’t be better or easier though, and still the building and farm building do not impose themselves while I sit here dreaming.

Kiss me Hardy!
Or on second thoughts perhaps not, these barrows are much more interesting.

On a September evening the Hardy monument car park is close with just the lay-by below serving the occasional dog walker. Parking is still easy though in the lay-by for the heath walk.
These barrows are still pretty fine specimens with incredible views, some well guarded from people with barbed wire but not from the Rabbits who we’re having a great time diving in and out of their burrows.

The late summer sun gave this place an other worldly feel as I drove up to the blind summit bathed in sunlight, shadows all around the car it was like driving directly into the sun and then dropping off the edge of the world into darkness.

This is an interesting site in that it offers such a clear view of Maiden Castle and the surrounding landscape. I’ve only ever seen these barrows from maiden castle in the past so this reverse view (for me) is very welcome indeed. It’s also an interesting place as it joins up Maiden Castle right across to The Hellstone via Black Down and the Hardy monument, across to Hampton Down. This is a must do walk for the future!

Fontmell down can be easily found on the just a few miles south of Shaftesbury on Spread eagle Hill between Blandford Forum and Shaftesbury. 863 feet above sea level with amazing views across Dorset, Hampshire and Wiltshire. This is definitely a good place for long views and to blow the cobwebs away.

Parking is very easy with a national trust car park just off the road and easy to find. If you prefer the walk then there are good walks to be had from shatesbury or Compton Abbas around Fontmell down and it’s neighbor melbury down.

I visited the Stone on the 19th March 2012 CE.
It’s now very dimly lit. The entire building empty, a To Let sign hangs from the building. Through the window to the stone I could see abandoned display and merchandising displays, perhaps left behind by the sports shop that last occupied this space. The stone deserves more. Opposite the space aged facade of the new loo Cannon St station, mood lit in comparison to the empty and forgotten space that the stone resides in on the other side of the road.
There are barriers and road works currently slightly dividing a symbol of the ancient past and the modern reality of modern commuters passing buy with take away coffee and laptops unaware of the almost hidden stone. If you stop though, even just for a second then you can still spend time at the stone, consider it’s past, hope for a better custodian than an empty shop space to let.

If the remainder of the stone is still beneath ground level and you believe in the ley line theories by Iain Sinclair and others then this is still a magical place, albeit one that requires as healthy dose of imagination and romantic thought.

This is a truly magical place and (disputably) the highest place in Dorset, I believe it is as everything else in sight from here is below.

The approach I took was from Broadwinsor on the B3164 and then onto the B6132 and then take the bridle way at the old farmhouse across the filed and up towards Lewesdon Hill.

Before the steep climb begun I crossed what I’m told is an old drovers road or route, this place feels incredibly atmospheric from here right until you reach the top, with trees ranging from relatively young beech trees to ancient looking Oaks.

Oncve at the top there is a clear and quite flat plateau, surrounded almost completely with trees but still offering amazing views to Pilsdon Pen, Golden Cap and Lambert’s Castle. Maybe with a pair of binoculars and on a clear day you could even see across to Glastonbury Tor, as my guide and fellow walker on this day has.

On visiting yesterday I found the ever growing housing estate of Pounbury growing closer, in fact in places the view is dominated by the faux historic architecture.

Even so Poundbury Hillfort still retains its soul, housing estates, construction works, railway lines all play a part in its modern day perspectives but do not disconnect this place from Maiden Castle or the landscape as a whole. Although very easily accessible from the road this still feels like a hidden place, perhaps because it’s somewhat on the edge of time. Well worth a visit if you find yourself near to Dorchester.

Nothing much to add to directions on getting to this site, follow the post by formicaant below but make sure to take the right hand path after parking up as there are two to choose from. If you take the left hand path you will make it there eventually but only after walking through some of the army base.

Both paths seem to be predominantly used though by dog walkers and not solders, on a Sunday at least. Follow the narrow right hand path, which is quite overgrown and enclosed until it opens out at the sign warning you are now entering MOD land. The path does continue on though and you don’t have to actually go through any security here, I guess it’s just luck whether you run into any patrol or not. The gunfire that could clearly be heard from the base was slightly off putting after just reading the sign but the odd friendly dog walker passing by calmed any nerves.

The long barrow is well enclosed behind barbed wire but looks very well preserved for it. It’s not possible to get very close but you can get a good perspective of it without taking the risk of jumping fences onto MOD land. This is a smaller structure by far than the Pimperne long barrow it’s closest neighbour.

This is a huge long barrow just off the A354 between Blandford Forum and Salisbury. The best place to park is in the lay by when heading North towards Salisbury. The lay by is almost opposite the turning into Blandford camp on the other side of the road.

From the lay by you can already see the long barrow and it’s just a very short walk past the bowl barrow. There is no longer any sign of the other barrows and the “British settlement” as drawn by R. Hippisley Cox in his green roads of England book.

The magnificence of Pimperne long barrow is all the more special as it’s the best preserved part of what was obviously once such a rich landscape of monuments.

Race Down long barrow is located just to the North East of here on the edge of the army camp across the road.

The best place to park for this site is the layby by the Farm on Portisham Hill, next to the farm at SY601879. The path leading from the style at the layby across the field will lead you directly to the Hellstone. After the first field you need to walk on the other side of the hedge, and then change back again for the third field to be on the correct side for the style and to avoid the electric fence.
This is all going to change soon though as I met the farmer who told me they are soon to change the path leading to the Hellstone.

This lay by is also the perfect place to leave the car to walk to Hampton Down opposite, and just back along The Valley of the Stones and if you have time why not continue on past the valley of the Stones off Coombe Road and then take the right hand turn onto Bishop’s Road. The track to The Grey Mare and her Colts and Kingston Russell is just off another right turn (the next one you come to on Bishops Road) onto a farm track.

English Heritage have now helpfully nailed a very small disk with their logo on to a fence post as you take the bridleway towards the Grey Mare & Her Colts and Kingston Russell stone circle. This I presume in case you don’t notice the very large sign warning that the other trackway from the road leads to private property.

Today the ground is frozen solid and the long grooves left by the farm vehicles and cattle are frozen solid.
It begins to lightly snow as we reach the long barrow.

This is a place well worth seeing, the structure of the site may no longer be intact, slightly ruinous even but still very much here within the landscape, and a truly amazing place it is!

Maybe it’s just the time of year but Kingston Russell seems much more visible on the approach from The Grey Mare & Her Colts than last time I was here, perhaps when the tree leaves , and hedges grow back and the grass is longer it would be as I remember it.

There was no sign of the sign here anymore either, a circle without the sign, even better!

Along with Hampton Down what I noticed most on this trip was the other ancient monuments all in view from each of these sites, their interconnectedness in the landscape. You might argue that this is because a lot of the monuments are on hills but the view between them only really opens up within the circles themselves.
From standing in the center of Kingston Russell I have a view all the way across to Abbotsbury, Golden Cap, Seatown and Lyme Regis.

This must be one of the very best locations for a Stone Circle. The view across to Chesil Beach is very clear, as are Chapel Hill Abbotsbury and The Hellstone seen here and on the walk all the way down to the Portesham Hill Road, as well as Black Down Barrow Cemetery
As said previously the condition of the circle itself is quite sad, although in recent years it does seem that the site is being maintained better than perhaps it has been in the past.
Given that though this is a splendid place to have to yourself for a while, a stone circle with an incredible view on the crest of a Dorset Hill.

How often Winterbourne Poor Lot must be seen from speeding cars and not up close. It’s as true for me as anyone. It’s only the second time I’ve stopped off here to have a closer look. It’s not an easy place to stop at. There is no obvious easy access from any direction. The road is fast and the fences don’t exactly invite you in. For all that this is a site managed by English Heritage, on their site it still says access via Wellbottom Lodge and this is probably the only place to park. Even then the road is so fast that stopping there and getting back out again in one piece feels like quite a mission!

Once up there on the hill though and it’s a different world, albeit one that shares the main road. Maybe the fact that people usually pass by instead of stopping here adds something to the place, it’s certainly nice to have the place to oneself for a little while.

The view across to Long Bredy is very good and looking back in the other direction knowing that Broad Stone and The Nine Stones lie just around the corner

Long Bredy is one of the most accessible sites in this area, it even has it’s own bus stop! From the bust stop it’s through the gate and up the concrete trackway to the top, and you’re there. This site is a pleasure to visit since the site on a public right of way, the bank barrow itself magnificent and the views also. It’s just high enough up and away from the road for it to be possible to just lose yourself here for a while. Today I only had the company of a few cows, the custodians of the site perhaps.

The Winterbourne Poor Lot round barrows are in full view from the bank barrow and this is one of the better perspectives to see Poor Lot from.

The good news for juamei is that the other stones are still there. The stone right next to the road is not too covered as of today, It looks like people go there to keep it clear. The main covering today was of some roadside litter that I took away.

It wasn’t possible to make out the shape of the circle that Moth saw here a few years ago, maybe at a different time of year it will still be possible to see the outline of what once was.

Rawlsbury is magnificent and affords spectacular views is all directions from it’s highest point.

This place isn’t just about the views though, the earthworks still retain their power and would have made any unwelcome visitors have to work extremely hard if they wanted to gain access, not least because of the climb up, which is approaching vertical in places.

Today it’s windy, very windy, especially here on the exposed height of Rawlsbury. My view is of the farmland below, the Stour, hundreds of sheep, field after field after field, squared off with fences and walls and small tracks and roads. Once inside the enclosure it feels much calmer, away from the howling wind, much more sheltered from the elements.

From here the other hills are neighbours, permanent fixtures on the horizon, everything else is far below, moving in a different time zone, a different world entirely.

The walk to King Down barrows from the Blandford Road, the B3082, makes the arrival here all the more special. Badbury Rings can be a very busy site to visit, it’s well used in all senses from dog walking to ritual activity and (it would seem) everything in between.
If you take the bridle way past the rings you will find yourself walking on an old Roman road as well as an ancient green road as you walk around this beautiful and comparatively remote countryside. Along the way you will be offered different perspectives of Badbury Rings, pass 700 year old Oak trees and leave all sounds of traffic far behind you.

The Barrows themselves are just of the bridleway on the crest of a hill within a freshly planted field. They are well visible at different points in the landscape. When up close with them they are found to be in good condition considering there is no trace at all of the other barrows that once shared this space.

I would recommend putting a day aside to walk these green lanes and to follow the Roman road, get lost in it all, eventually you’ll find your way back to Badbury rings as we did but feeling much more connected to the place and with a greater understanding of the positioning of it in the landscape away from the national Trust car park and country roads.

A very misty morning certainly helps to add atmosphere to any site. Having said that I found Buzbury Rings to contain an incredible amount of atmosphere even after the mist had lifted, revealing views for miles in most directions, apart from looking North West where the line of trees obscure any view towards where Blandford Forum sits today.

The banks here are very shallow to be defensive, especially when compared to the nearby Badbury Rings, although if you imagine away the road, the golf club across the road and the fences surrounding the site, this is a high point in the landscape. If you travel from Blandford this in the highest point so far after leaving the town, climbing all the way. Heading in the same direction toward Wimborne Minster you will dip right down immediately after Buzbury Rings before ascending again towards the grander spectacle of Badbury Rings. The road being modern itself of course, so maybe this is still based on a modern viewpoint. Interesting though.

Another interesting feature here is the combination of a large outer bank followed by a second smaller bank, a ditch and then the inner bank to the central enclosure. Useful for keeping animals within perhaps but it does feel create a unique sense of space in this landscape.
These days it is left to the Birds, Badgers, Rabbits, Hares and judging from the litter in the lay by other human visitors, exploring this site.

Although Buzbury Rings is definitely less immediately spectacular than Badbury Rings, what Badbury Rings has in grandeur and scale, Buzbury rings has in it’s lack of sign posts, car parks, and a true sense of mystery alive and well.

I re-visited the stone today, almost eight years since the last time I saw it in this location. The surroundings are now much more overgrown. It’s in a fairly sad state really, lost at the bottom of a garden. There is now a bench in front of it, so maybe some people do get to enjoy sitting in front of it a letting their minds go!
From the one resident I spoke to today though, I don’t think people are that aware of it’s history. It’s a rock feature in an overgrown border with some old crisp packets and cat shit for company.

Almost seven years on from my last field notes here I visited again, this time with my Daughter for company.

The benefit of visiting on 26th December is that there is no one about at the quarry next door, so this time there was better for exploring the geographical context of the Bridestones and to further explore the connection to the landscape. Just of from the site standing at the quarry building there is the most spectacular view over Staffordshire and Cheshire, truly awe-inspiring in the distance the naked eye can see. I am convinced that this spot would have been of prime importance in relation to the Bridestones, and there reason for being here, I suspect they weren’t placed here in isolation but would have been a small part in a wider use of this area, leading up higher and higher to the peak of the cloud.

I visited this site for the first time last weekend, driving back from Cheshire I decided to make a detour as I’ve wanted to visit the Rollrights for years and this time the time was right.

I found this to be a truly amazing place, walking around the circle, spending time looking out across the landscape. I love the perspective over to The Whispering Knights and while at their looking back to The Rollright Stones, if it wasn’t for the hedges the view across to The King Stone would have made the sites seem completely connected, which of course they are.

For me the proximity of the road didn’t matter, maybe it’s down to so many visits to The nine stones of Winterborne Abbas with the heavy passing traffic, but the traffic here at the Rollright Stones wasn’t so distracting. The lay by does make it very early for folk to stop off for a visit though, including napping truck drivers, perhaps re-charging their weary batteries in more ways than they are aware. I usually enjoy a bit of a track to a site, a welcome opportunity to detach from the trappings of the everyday modern life into an ancient landscape, however on this occasion my excitement at being there took over and I took a good long walk around and about the whole area making up for the pilgrimage of finding the place by foot that I would have enjoyed..

I recommend making some time to visit this pace, spend a while there, allow yourself to slow down and let the place unfold.

It was good to visit Duloe again this July, 2011.
Last time we found Duloe by accident, just driving along and then saw a sign for the circle. That hardly ever happens so it was a very nice surprise.

This time we were staying in Lanreath, just a short drive away.

Duloe, although small is a very special place. it almost feels like it is in someones back garden, as the track to it is in between domestic properties, but with farmland all around as well. On this occasion there were a lot of sheep present which came bleating and running towards us, they were clearly the current guardians of the circle. My two year old daughter ran towards them with great excitement, “funny sheep” apparently.

It’s interesting to see the level of excitement that stone circles, and other ancient sites bring out in children. I often feel very different within circles, and especially in Fogous but with children I think there is a very natural and immediate response. I sense that they intrinsically know what we may have forgotten about these places.

Visited on 21st July 2011.
We parked at the English Heritage car park just off the road. It’s more of a lay by really but has two EH info boards with photos, information and artists impressions of how the Fogou may have fitted into a larger settlement.

My first visit inside was with my two year old Daughter, she loved the walk up across the field and on approaching the Fogou started shouting Macca Paccas house, Macca Paccas house! On entering she just wanted to run off into the creep passage and was really excited by the place. My nerve wasn’t quite as strong as hers though so that was the end of her adventure for this time, and so back to the car and to Mum and little brother for her!

On my second visit I stayed much longer and really got to take in the vibe of the place. As written here earlier the dark is all consuming, my torch almost extinguished by pure and total darkness.

I explored all the passage ways alone and in almost complete silence, my breathing at first fast and loud as I climbed in through the small creep passages. Once I’d settled down a little though I could really start to take in the place. So torch off, sitting on the stumbling stone, time for a meditation on the place. On opening my eyes there was no difference than having them closed. Pitch black. Then I started to make sense of the layout and curve to the passages, not exactly but if I followed the lines of the curve I could see it worked. It was more like curved straight lines in the center that I could see that led me back to the main passage way. A strange phenomenon. A powerful place this Fogou.

I visited Spetisbury Rings for the first time today, after driving past it hundreds of times.
Well set back from the main Road in Spetisbury, this site is something of a hidden treasure. The site is well known to locals in the village and further afield, there is even a music festival held there in the summer.
However unlike some site so close to housing, this place feels more remote. The walk to it in itself is interesting taking in an old closed down railway line. Modern and ancient ghosts here without even having to use the imagination.
Apparently Spetisbury Rings was a stronghold of the Ionia before the Romans came along, and on excavation it was found that Roman and Britons lay side by side in graves. I had the pace to myself and found the place to contain a real spirit of it’s own far removed from the busy Road below, and the modern and old cottages lining the road. An interesting place to visit and sit and spend some time.

At D21 the Oak tree is also right next to this very well preserved monument. While sitting there meditating on the place I found myself drifting and thinking about the trees. Of course they wouldn’t have been their at the time the monuments were in use but there still seemed to be a great relevance to my modern perspective of the monument. I was thinking about a recent permaculture course I took, and about pioneer species, natural succession and Climax community, when the stable community that is reached and no further succession occurs. This seemed very relevant to me when considering these old stones and the people that put them there, coincidental? Maybe but still a beautiful vision of life beyond words and history.

Charlie and I visited Hambledon & Hod Hill for the first time on saturday. We climbed Hod Hill first, trying our best to avoid the cows coming straight for us. It was a beautiful sunny day and on top of the hill the views were amazing as we walked around the top of the hill with nothing but the birdsong and butterflies to distract us.

Afterwards we made the steep climb up to Hambledon. The hill looks so impressive on the climb up to the top and once there the views are even more incredible than from Hod Hill. We saw a deer on the way up and horses running through fields. There is actually a small lay by by two houses at the bottom of the hill if you want to park as close as possible. If not the car park at Hod Hill is only a short walk away.

Visited the Harpstone again this afternoon and found that the approach to the field containing the Harpstone has been cleared and is no longer overgrown. The once slippy steep climb down to the stone is no more. The land has been cleared of all the overgrown trees and plants and a railing has been put in place with a “footpath” sign attached. It is so much easier to get to the stone now.

The relief to be out of the way of all that traffic and up on the moors was enough to compensate for the downpour of rain that greeted us as we were looking for the The Plague Market At Merrivale. At first this proved a little difficult as the mist swept in so suddenly and we could only see a few feet ahead of us and could see no evidence of stone rows or circles as we wandered around, although there were stones everywhere. All of a sudden the mist lifted out as quickly as it had appeared and the sun broke through shining down upon one of the stone rows now stood right in front of me. i waved across to charlie and we made our way in awe walking down these amazing stone rows. the stream running between the rows was really high and made an amazing sound that i wish i’d recorded. we spent the next hour or so looking at Merrivale Stone Circle, the menhir and investigating all the hut circles, what a place! it was very peaceful, maybe it the changeable weather but there seemed to be little in the way of traffic or other people about.

we headed off to The Spinsters’ Rock. We found it easily, driving up the tiny lane to the farm at the top and parking in the lay by next to the gate. the site was well signposted both from the road and at the lay by. The field was full of sheep and a beautiful horse that didn’t move the whole time we were there. the sun still graced us with it’s presence only occasionally dipping behind the clouds. The spinsters’ Rock looked perfect, we spent our time just chilling out and pondering on the legends of the spinsters or witches or Mysterious Old Man and his three sons putting up these stones.

We drove to mow cop and the castle built in 1754. there is a suggestion that mow cop was used as a watchtower by the romans although no evidence has been found of their occupation. i could imagine this though standing their looking out as it would make the perfect location for a watchtower. even more than this the place does feel like it could have been an important ancient site, especially because of the hills prominence on the landscape for miles around and the natural outcrop of rock that looks so dramatic breaking the view on the horizon between the earth and the sky. there are also some upright standing stones here within the rocks but i don’t know from when they originate. as well as all this though there is the old man o’ mow, which is situated on an ancient cairn, before the castle was built the cairn would have been the highpoint of the land and it is though that it was a burial mound linked to the bridestones, although it could simply be a boundry between two counties.

As we approached the Bridestones the sky was dark towards Jodrell Bank Observatory and the Welsh hills in the far off distance. we did encounter the barking of dogs on approach to the stones although they quickly stopped again leaving us in peace. As we entered the enclosure the sun broke through the sky and created amazing views past the stones and across the landscape. This is an amazing place to visit and in very good condition. By the gate there is what looks like a capstone to the tomb or maybe it is another standing stone which has fallen over at some point, either way it is huge.

i visited this site for the first time with charlie and juamei on dec 27th 2004. juamei is spot on about it being very muddy getting to the stone in the winter time, so do wear good walking boots. the stone once you get there is magnificent, a really interesting shape with lots of detail. we found that we could get to the other side of the stone by going to the end of the field and walking back up on the other side of the hedge, this is a really nice approach to the stone as well but if you can’t be bothered to walk round you could always slip under the barbed wire.

We visited the cloud on sunday the 14th 2004. This used to be a local walk for me for years, as I grew up in this area. The views from up top are incredible, whatever the time of year. This is one place where you can’t help but feel alive after the walk to the top. From a distance the cloud is always there on the horizon, huge and magnificent!

Dragon Hill is an amazing place. As we walked down from the White Horse the sun shone through the cloudy sky illuminating it as we made our way down. There are great views from here of Uffington White Horse and Uffington Castle and of the surrounding Oxordshire countryside. It’s a great place to sit and gather your thoughts too, whether contomplating the slaying of dragons or anything else for that matter.

Charlie and I visited this site again today. This time it was late afternoon and the sun was setting fast as we got out of the car and took some photos of the henge on this Halloween night. Last time we we here in the middle of the day and the ground was covered in snow. Today the place took on a completely different feel as night set in, and we saw the place for the first time in relation to the night sky. There is some work going on inside the church at the moment, and the scaffolding inside from some angles somewhat spoils the overall vibe of the place, as does the portaloo right at the entrance to the henge. However this didn’t detract from our time, walking around the henge in the dark, lit only by the moon and stars with the sounds of owls hooting and far away farm dogs barking into the night.

A beautiful Autumn day was spent yesterday at Waylands Smithy. The orange leaves falling all around on a gentle breeze, in this most tranquil spot. People came and went as we sat there and moved around taking our photographs, a popular place for those on foot or bikes and passed every now and then by huge off road vehicals powering down the ridgeway. Sstill this didn’t bother me as I sat inside each of the chambers totally switching myself off from the world outside. This place is an absolute treasure.

Charlie and I visited the white horse for the first time yesterday, and what a place! The views from just above the horse on the hill are breathtaking. We walked down past the horse looking at the chalk close up. The actual outline of the horse makes no sense at this close range, but it seems really well looked after and maintained. On reaching the bottom and climbing up to Dragon Hill the white horse figure takes on it’s full shape and the dramatic landscape all around adds to this viewing pleasure.

We visited the castle yesterday Saturday 30th October 2004. The landscape here is so dramatic and exciting to view. The views are truly inspirational from any point you choose on top of the castle. Over Dragon Hill and way into the distance. As the afternoon went on the sun began to lower in the sky and the silhouettes of people walking over the other side with a full red sun setting behind them was a beautiful sight.

We visited this site for the first time a couple of months ago with Pete G and his friend Mick as our guides. The views of Silbury and West Kennett long barrow are fantastic from here as is the whole of the landscape. Just a short walk up from East Kennett long barrow, though i would never have found the place without Pete. We parked the car at a farm below East Kennett longbarrow and didn’t have any real problems although we were warned we were on private land and that we left our car there at our own risk of the threat of runnaway tractors! Although the stones are scattered it is still a great site due to it’s views of the landscape and great positioning.

a very beautiful walk, with stones of interesting sizes and shapes. this place is also within walking distance of the hellstone and hampton down stone cicle, all of which can be walked between easily if you park in the layby next to the farm in between the hellstone and hampton down stone circle. when we were there the weather changed between snow and bright sunshine and the stones seemed to change dramatically with the light.

an interesting stone just a few minutes from where i live. the new housing around the stone doesn’t really help to appreciate the stone itself, it almost feels like it was placed under the tree as an afterthought of a housing developer. Although it’s great that the stone remains there for all to see.