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Inspired by Scubi’s recent little solstice film, I was determined to see this barrow. Tonight (or rather yesterday) I seized on the opportunity on our way to Box to persuade a friend to drive by and stop for a bit.

A quiet country lane under an M4 bridge, somehow we just went straight to it. The barrow was at the far end of a field of maze so we walked along the hedgerow then carefully stepped through the maze crop to take a closer look. Although the grass around the barrow had been cut back, the barrow itself was very overgrown. The elder tree has sprung back into life, as elders seem to do; the most resilient of hedgerow trees. I’m not sure that it can be thwarted even though it presence is not welcome.

I spotted the Cove stones in the ‘pub garden’ as the bus had pulled into Stanton Drew and my first impression was that they were in the churchyard. We bought lunch and a drink at the Druid Arms just before it closed though the landlord said we were welcome to stay in the Cove Garden for as long as we wanted. Probably the best pub garden I have ever sat in; I found the relationship of the Cove Stones and the nearby church very interesting – the Cove Stones feel as though they belong to the same ‘site’ as the church as are really quite separate from the pub, there are steps leading up to them from the road. It felt once again like a church superimposed on an ancient site.

Note: the pub closed at 2.15pm though there is access to the garden at all times from the road.

Today met up with Bristol based Friend for another little stony adventure; same Friend as I got lost in Cornwall with. Some reservations as a very limited bus service served by the *672 small bus (see below for details) which went the scenic Chew Valley route. Friend said the driver bore a striking resemblance to Otto from the Simpsons as he was wearing a bandana and dark glasses. When he asked us if we were going to the Stones somehow it boded well for the visit.

I had printed off the field notes from TMA which I read on train; all were distinguished contributors though Treaclechops of 2003 shone out with a sense of fun and wit (as her field notes always do when by chance I stumble upon them). I will try therefore not to duplicate what has already been written and just give a few impressions of our visit. We picked up the helpful English Heritage leaflet from the gate and dropped some money in the empty sounding honesty box.

I found the diagram in the leaflet very helpful as we made our way slowly down the slope to look at the stones from all perspectives. Looking uphill in the diagonal direction of the church tower seems to give the impression of walking towards and into a ‘ritual site’. After half an hour or so we made our way back up to the South West Circle though needed to circumnavigate a small field of dairy cows to get to it. All the stones in this circle are now lying flat; it was however an interesting perspective to look downhill towards the Great Circle and small NE circle.

* Details of how to get to Stanton Drew by public transport:
The 672 from Stop CP on Colston Avenue, leaves 11.35am arrives Stanton Drew (Druid Arms) 12.46pm. Although just over an hour it was a drive through along scenic lanes with fabulous views.
Return journey from outside the Druid Arms at 15.11pm.
NB: These are the only two journeys to run but give well over two hours for visit.

I have been to Wayland’s Smithy about half a dozen times since I have lived in the north Wilts area, not really that often considering it is one of my favourite places.

One of the aspects I love about visiting this site is the walk of about half a mile or so along the Ridgeway from the nearest parking area; this gets you in the right frame of mind. Yesterday afternoon, I had spent some time with a friend who is a garden enthusiast – I mention this as an aside because earlier we had visited the Woolstone Mill garden which has one of the best views of Uffington White Horse (seeing the White Horse from their little tree house there was a true delight).

The friend later obliged by driving up to the Ridgeway from village of Ashbury; this is also the best place to head for if you are visiting by public transport: take the 47* (Newbury) bus from Swindon to Ashbury, picking up a downland path by the church which leads up to the Ridgeway (this just in itself is a lovely walk) then about a mile along the Ridgeway towards Uffington.

Yesterday, late afternoon it was still quite hot and we had neither hat nor drink with us (not clever when walking the Ridgeway). We walked briskly along this particularly beautiful section of the Ridgeway, ancient hedgerows on both sides. Walking into the Wayland’s enclosure, with its massive beeches, on a hot summer’s day is like walking into an oasis of shade and cool; thirst disappeared and for once the site was completely deserted. I was able to go inside the two small side chambers which are like West Kennet Long Barrow in miniature – the shafting afternoon sunlight playing on the stones as I examined their surfaces. Like most of the long barrows in the Wiltshire/Cotswold area some reconstruction has obviously taken place to the entrance.

As we walked around the barrow a couple turned up, headed for the end of the long barrow and lay down in the long grass looking up at the sky. Their presence only added to the peaceful ambience, probably my best visit yet.

Note: The small EH information board near the entrance of the enclosure is discreet and helpful.

*Public transport information below:
thamesdown-transport.co.uk/times/047.htm

I took a wander up to Castle Hill at Broad Blunsdon this morning. A very easy walk up a single track road called Burytown Lane which leads to Upper Burytown Farm. I had been unaware of this hillfort until I heard recently that the farmer wants to fence off the ‘right of way’ ... at least I think it is a right of way. There are two notices at the gate into the hillfort; one says “bull in field” the other indicates by a dotted line the path across the hillfort with the emphatic statement that there is no permissive circular path around the fort.

There is a superb view to the north and on this beautiful sunny morning it did look impressive. The hillfort has open access to a herd of pedigree cattle though today they had congregated in a lower field. I understand the farmer wants to fence the path off so that the cattle are not harrassed by dogs not on leads. Its quite hard to visualise a hillfort with a fence across the middle, even one as relatively low profile such as this one.

Another sign of the times, I noticed on my walk back down that the attractive village church has had a load of its roof tiles nicked. Sigh!

Visited today; a pleasant walk across north Wiltshire meadows from the village of Purton near Swindon. This hillfort is unlike the other Wiltshire downland hillforts as the landscape is meadowland against the backdrop of Brockurst Wood.

If you are planning a visit – go soon! Just by the north side of the hillfort is Brockhurst Meadow, now owned and managed by Wiltshire Wildlife Trust. Today there were common and spotted orchids growing in great abundance, along with a profusion of other wild flowers and grasses. A wonderful and unexpected treat as I was unaware of the meadow until today. It is cut in July and then given over to grazing, so don’t delay if you want the simple and glorious sight of a wildflower meadow and a  peaceful wander around ancient hillfort set in wooodland.

There are many aspects to Avebury, most of them have been covered here by previous posts. Last night I had a ‘first’, went out to Avebury with a group of friends to see Rory Motion* perform in the village hall (Rory is a Yorkshireman, comedian, poet, singer and tree impressionist).
Before the performance we sat for a bit outside the Red Lion and watched the peace of evening settle over this wonderful place – the unripe barley crop on Waden Hill looked like a green sea as it rippled in the breeze.

Rory’s performance was brilliant (catch him if you can). The ‘bonus’ highlight of the evening was the Avebury night sky; as we came out of the village hall at the end of the evening a bright star, which I believe to be Venus, was setting in the west against the silhouette of Avebury church. It was about 11.00pm and as we walked towards the cars the stone circle seemed to be bathed in ethereal light. Then I saw it, the full moon was rising ... what an amazing sight Avebury is by the light of a full moon. After recently feeling a little jaded with the often busy, very public face of Avebury, last night I fell back in love with the mysterious and mystical Avebury.

* rorymotion.com/

Visited Sunday 23 May 2010
It was already very hot when we made our way mid-morning from Devizes along Quaker’s Way up by Roundway Hill to Oliver’s Castle. In restrospect it was probably unwise to embark on an 11 mile walk along a section of the Mid Wilts Way during one of our rare heatwaves. The highlight for me was definitely reaching Oliver’s Castle.

Once up there the heat was relieved by a breeze, the views, needless to say, were spectacular. I noticed a small glimpse of purple in the grass and went to investigate; was treated to the sight of a whole bank of early purple (or fragrant) orchids. I have never seen wild orchids in such abundance – on the grassy slopes of a hillfort.

Visited 22 May 2010

I had arranged to spend today with my oldest and closest female friend for a general potter in the vicinity of Oxford. A beautiful summer’s day rolled out before us and I suggested we do a detour to Stanton Harcourt to see the ‘reconstructed’ stone circle I had read so much about. I knew from previous TMA posts that it was next to a recycling plant near Stanton Harcourt so we were soon tootling around the lake towards the layby opposite a portacabin office. As we pulled up a man in a yellow jacket came out in our direction, my friend said in her best posh voice “We’ve come to see the stone circle”. He was obviously taken with her as he couldn’t have been more helpful, telling us where to park and where to walk. A few minutes later he reappeared with a rather attractive information sheet produced by Wardell Armstrong, the engineering company responsible for reinstating the site. The leaflet headed “Dix Pit Landfill Devil’s Quoits” explained the background to the project; the Devil’s Quoits Circle had been one of the most important Henge sites in Britain dating back four and half thousand years, used by the local people from the Thames Valley Region. The circle was some 75m in diameter with a two metre ditch and outer Henge bank surrounding them. The three original stones were geologically assessed and the new stones were sourced locally from the same conglomerate stone.

We set off along the gravel path – lake, willows and wild fowl on one side and fairly new tree plantation on the other. The circle itself was unlike any I have yet seen; even in the brilliant mid-day sunshine the landfill site in the background initially gave it a stark feel, however, this soon disappeared. Within minutes of our arrival a pair red kites soared overhead and glided down as low as I have ever seen red kites. Their interest was clearly the landfill site but what a display. They glided on thermal currents giving us a splendid view of their reddish brown tail feathers which strangely enough echoed the colour of the stones.

Seen from the far Henge bank the circle comes to life and the knowledge that it will still be there in another hundred years when the landfill has long since been abandoned was very satisfying. Later we sat on the stones near the entrance stile while I made a few notes – my friend called for me to look up … the kites had returned to give us yet another magnificent aerial display.

A great day … and many thanks to the lovely people we met earlier who gave us clear and accurate directions.

Footnote: The gates of the recycling plant close at 5.00pm (on Saturday anyway) so only day time visits are viable by car.

Monday 19/4/2010: walked along the fairly quiet B road to the well which is clearly signposted. Stopped of at the site of a cairn en route – we entered by a wooden gate and were dismayed at the sight that lay before us. Like other parts of the country, West Penwith has a policy of rhododendron clearance and what lay before us was acres of rhododendron stumps – probably necessary though not an attractive sight. i296.photobucket.com/albums/mm200/TJJackson66/046-2.jpg
The wooded walk to the well was lovely; the low growing trees not yet in leaf and the lichen covered branches gave them a silvery quality. Spent a bit of time at the cloutie tree – I did a few jumps across onto some moss covered boulders to get a better feel of the place. I understand this is not the source the well and I have to admit I didn’t get a sense of it being a ‘holy’ or mystical place. On to to the Baptistry where we sat for a bit before continuing the walk along the wooded path to a field before retracing our steps. I have since read the wellspring is hidden a bit away from the path – this I can believe as I came away feeling I had missed something.

Visited 22/4/10 – I have copied details of the walk we took in case it is of help to anyone without a car planning a visit – see below my fieldnote.
Having managed to get lost a couple of days previously while walking back to the Merry Maidens across fields from Lamorna we followed the directions of the walk reproduced below to the letter – and it worked.

It was a beautiful sunny afternoon with a fresh breeze – perfect walking weather. Many of the stiles have ‘snagging’ blackthorn hedges growing around them so a pair of jeans is recommended walking attire.

Boscawen-Un was everything I had imagined; ‘magical’ is an over-used word when describing ancient sites but this one really is. My previous experience of a stone circle was Avebury so finding this perfect small circle of nineteen stones with it leaning ‘sun-dial’ centre stone and one white quartz stone was beyond superlatives. There were two women sitting in the centre when we arrived so we just sat down outside the circle and waited quietly. After about 15 minutes they left wishing us an enjoyable visit. It was pretty much perfect – a stone circle encircled by yellow gorse and creamy blackthorn blossom; a pale half-moon in the clear blue sky. I didn’t really want to leave and definitely took the spirit of the place with me when I did.

Walk taken from the Signpost ‘Discover St Buryan and Lamorna’ leaflet.
The route follows public rights of way but may be heavily overgrown in summer. Shorts are not advised at such times (Note: a ‘hedge’ in Cornwall refers to a granite wall).

1. From the St Buryan Inn walk along the Penzance road, passing the Anglican church on your left. Continue along the main road (no pavement on the LH side) and, just before the St Buryan Garage, go left at a public footpath sign and follow the path between the house, crossing two stone stiles to reach an open field. Trend right across the middle of the field towards a telegraph pole, then cross a stile into another field. Keep ahead past a gap in the field hedge and continue keeping the hedge on your left. Soon, cross left over another stile, and continue with the hedge on your right.
2. At the field corner, bear left, then after a few yards go right over a stile and keep ahead down the right hand side of the next field. Where the hedge bends sharply right, then quickly left, with the hedge on your right. At the bottom corner of the field, go left along its bottom edge for 150 yards (137m) then go right over a stile into another field. Continue with the field hedge on your right and descend towards a wooded valley.
3. Descend stone steps and follow a rough path to cross a fine little ‘clapper’ bridge. Continue out the trees and bear up left* then right to emerge onto a broad track. Go right, and through a gate into a field. Cross the middle of the field towards a small, isolated, granite barn next to a farmhouse. At the bottom of the field cross a stone stile beside a field gate, then bear left through another gate into a field. Pass the small barn, then keep ahead with the field hedge on your right. At the bottom of the field, step over some boulders onto a footpath between high hedgerows.
4. Turn left and follow the path for about 400 yards (366m). Where the path bears right go left through a wooden gate to reach Boscawen-Un stone circle. Reverse the directions to return to St Buryan.

* This has now changed slightly and you should bear up right where there is a new stile. We went left as directed to find a single strand of barbed wire across the path – it didn’t cause a problem and we noticed the stile a few metres along.