Avebury

The weather continues to be wonderful. Whet happened to rainy England?

On Tuesday we drove to Avebury, which took about 1-1/2 hours. Unfortunately, the route we took went through Reading, so we had heavy traffic and a very drab view. Once we got out into the countryside, things improved greatly.

In the Avebury parking lot we were offered the opportunity to join the National Trust (which acquires and maintains many historically significant stately homes, gardens and areas of natural beauty so they can remain open to the public); we had decided earlier not to join because we thought it was a bit pricey. Cost of a one-year membership is 77 pounds per couple (that's around $150); however the Trust is offering a "special" to Americans for $77 since the dollar is so weak, so we decided to go for it.















The Salisbury plain was the home to a neolithic culture which build a number of impressive monuments. One of these is Stonehenge, which we saw the last time we visited the UK, so we skipped it this time for Avebury. Avebury is older and larger than Stonehenge, but Stonehenge gets all the publicity because of its famous profile. Also, Stonehenge has been loved to death by visitors, so it is now roped off and you can no longer approach it very closely. Avebury is situated over a very large area and you can walk among and touch the stones. Sheep are grazing among the stones so you have to watch where you walk.

Avebury is one of 900 stone circles in Britain and is the best preserved, as well as the largest in area. It was built over 6000 years ago and it was in use for around 200 years. It is not only a stone circle, but also has an "avenue" of large stones. It is impressive what a neolithic culture was able to accomplish.







Avebury is also a charming, small (very small) village with lovely old cottages (many with thatched roofs) and pretty gardens. The church, St. James Cathedral, was started in 1088 by Saxons and was added onto by the Normans and others a number of times.


















Avebury Manor was first built in the late eleventh century and is remarkably well preserved today. It has walls three feet thick. The earth in this area is primarily chalk, so stability is a problem. Also the foundation for the walls was not made very deep. This area experienced a series of earthquakes in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, so nothing in this house is square. They just plastered it over and left it! The interior is quite striking, with dark, heavily scarred wide plank floors, beautiful detail in the moldings and ceiling decorations, and a unique, intricately carved chalk mantlepiece.

The gardens are primarily sculptured hedges and bushes; there are some flowers (one rose garden is particularly charming), but not on the scale that we observed in Ireland.










We drove home on a different route to avoid Reading and to see some smaller towns; some of these "small" towns were surprisingly extensive, but the drive was enjoyable.