Tuesday September 19th Calne to East Garston
This was the day we had planned to head back into London, return the car and stay at South Clapham again. When we thought about it, it made more sense to hold on to the car and arrive in London about 3pm the following day-otherwise we would be left to traipse around London after we booked out until it was time to go to Heathrow.
Anyway, we left the hotel and drove out to see The White Horse at Cherhill. There are 8 of these huge chalk horses on hills in the area-some have been there 3000 years. The locals have fixed the borders and refilled the chalk since forever. Then we drove on to Silsbury Hill. It's 140 metres high, man made and took 4 million man hours to make over 500 years. At one stage it was a huge chalk pyramid, then they covered the chalk over with earth. No one knows why it was built, or why it was covered over, only that it's over 4000 years old.
Next we visited the little village of Avesbury that sits in the middle of many standing stones. A lot have been taken to build the cottages, but a lot are still there. There are two circles either side of a large moat, then a long avenue of them leading to Silsbury hill and the West Kennet Barrow (a huge burial mound). The two museums in Avesbury (one in a 300 year old barn and the other in the stables of the manor) were really interesting.
Finally we walked up to West Kennet Barrow, then hunted out another of the White Horses on Milk Hill before heading a bit closer to London. We ended up in a lovely old pub at East Garston where the new front of house guy was an Australian. His wife who had cooked in the Yarra Valley was the chef and the two of them had only been there a week. My dinner of Guinea Fowl on a warm chorizo salad with fingerling potatoes was great. There was another Aussie in the pub, so we had a drink and a long chat with him before heading to bed.
Anyway, we left the hotel and drove out to see The White Horse at Cherhill. There are 8 of these huge chalk horses on hills in the area-some have been there 3000 years. The locals have fixed the borders and refilled the chalk since forever. Then we drove on to Silsbury Hill. It's 140 metres high, man made and took 4 million man hours to make over 500 years. At one stage it was a huge chalk pyramid, then they covered the chalk over with earth. No one knows why it was built, or why it was covered over, only that it's over 4000 years old.
Next we visited the little village of Avesbury that sits in the middle of many standing stones. A lot have been taken to build the cottages, but a lot are still there. There are two circles either side of a large moat, then a long avenue of them leading to Silsbury hill and the West Kennet Barrow (a huge burial mound). The two museums in Avesbury (one in a 300 year old barn and the other in the stables of the manor) were really interesting.
Finally we walked up to West Kennet Barrow, then hunted out another of the White Horses on Milk Hill before heading a bit closer to London. We ended up in a lovely old pub at East Garston where the new front of house guy was an Australian. His wife who had cooked in the Yarra Valley was the chef and the two of them had only been there a week. My dinner of Guinea Fowl on a warm chorizo salad with fingerling potatoes was great. There was another Aussie in the pub, so we had a drink and a long chat with him before heading to bed.
posted by janandruss at
7:18 p.m.
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