After my trip to Stonehenge, we headed to Avebury. Avebury contains the largest stone circle in Europe. It contains three stone circles, around the village of Avebury in Wiltshire, in southwest England. A beautiful part of the English country side if I do say so myself!
We started by heading to the local Red Lion Pub for some lunch! I enjoyed an excellent Guinness as well as fish and chips! The pub is built around an old well that may or may not have been the final resting place of an unfortunate villager. After lunch it was off to the stones!
Well table at the #RedLion in @VisitAvebury! Apparently the pub is also haunted! #traveltales #traveltips #avebury
Well table at the #RedLion in @VisitAvebury! Apparently the pub is also haunted! #traveltales #traveltips #avebury
Constructed around 2600 BCE, the monument comprises a large henge (a bank and a ditch) with a large outer stone circle and two separate smaller stone circles situated inside the centre of the monument. Since we had limited time, I did not get to see it all, but what I did see was beautiful. The purpose which Neolithic people had for the Avebury monument has remained unknown. Unlike Stonehenge, Avebury is not commercialized. There’s also wasn’t a whole lot of other people there, which was a nice change from Stonehenge. It was nice to enjoy the place without any pressure. It felt so much more natural.
Just a little ways down the road from the Red Lion, you happen upon some enormous trees. My friend, the groom at the wedding, had told me these trees had been the inspiration for J. R. R. Tolkien’s ‘walking trees’ in The Lord of the Rings. If you’ve either seen the film or red the books, you’ll know what I’m talking about. People have tied ribbons to the tree’s branches with wishes written on them. Unfortunately I didn’t know this ahead of time so I didn’t have a ribbon on me. My wish would have been for Nerd Out to be successful. And thus far it is!
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