Avebury

In order to have any understanding of the Avebury site you must be made aware of the size of this thing. Avebury is big, and when I say big, I mean BIG. In fact it is so large that it encircles an entire village! Now that's big. And it's not just the topography that's impressive; some of these stones are simply huge. Avebury is so spectacular that you could easily spend a whole day there just chilling.

Avebury is not just one ring of stones. It consists of several rings, a vast ditch and embankment, and a twin procession of stones, known as the Avenue, heading away from the village towards West Kennet Long Barrow. Many of the stones have been lifted over the four thousand or so years since they were erected and little concrete markers left in their place! Make your own mind up about that. Nevertheless, there are still "stones-a-plenty" and it is no over statement to say that Avebury is truly awesome.

The official car-park is very close to the stones, without being too obtrusive, like it is at Stonehenge. If, however, you are a card carrying member of Lazy Club, you can forgo such criminal wastes of energy and drive the few extra metres and park inside the stones themselves, at either the pub or in the visitors' sneaky, non walking type car- park. Great or what? Of course this does mean that there is a fairly busy road running right through the middle of this World Heritage Site. But who cares? You get to chill in the middle of a stone circle without leaving the car. Wa hey! Where else can you do that? Surely there must be a road building firm somewhere that fancies building the "Avebury Ring Road", so we could just drive right round the site, see it all and clear off home without our boots having to leave the carpet? Come on! I ask you? They've done it at Stonehenge, why not here? The only downfall on the Laziness side is how far you have to walk to see it all, but even I can't complain too much about that. OK I did, a lot, but was told to shut up.

As I have mentioned above, the Avebury henge contains a tiny village complete with pub, (Wednesday night is "Bikers' Night"), Village Hall, Post Office and a beautiful little church. Also to be found are the large tea rooms, visitor centre and shop, some formal gardens and a manor house (I told you this thing was big!). There is massive room here for over commercialisation, but this has not really happened and Avebury is all the better for it. The cream teas are well worth it. One word of caution, if you decide to conduct your own tour of the church, try to do so when the choir aren't practising! I don't know who was more shocked, them or me?

Anyway, despite the numbers that Avebury attracts, it is so vast that it is easy to find yourself a quiet corner to fully enjoy that mellow moment (I suggest the Avenue or far side of the embankment). This really is a chill seeker's paradise. If you are looking for a chilled, lazy day-out, that is hugely impressive, this is your spot. Trust me, I know!