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Stonehenge Guided Tours, has demonstrated excellence and commitment in this industry, even in the face of uncertainty, its a privilidge to be recognised.
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The world-famous Neolithic monument of Stonehenge is on everyone’s bucket-list, or seems to be – going by the droves who visit it every year – but many miss out on its sister UNESCO World Heritage Site at Avebury, only 17 miles away. What are they missing out on, and is it even better? Does it out-henge Stonehenge?
When in Wiltshire, one should most certainly visit Stonehenge, which is undoubtedly the world’s most famous stone circle. But one should also make time to visit Wiltshire’s “other” stone circle, Avebury — which holds the distinction of being the largest in the world.
Stonehenge has long been a must-see for any visiting England and venturing beyond the capital – and rightly so. The iconic stone circle, standing proud on Salisbury Plain, is one of the seven ‘modern’ wonders of the world (as opposed to the classical ones, of which only the Great Pyramid of Giza survive), and in 2019 1.6 million people visited it. Let us first consider its attractions before looking at its great ‘rival’, Avebury.
To its deficit are: the hordes of tourists, queues, pricey entrance fee, and the fact you cannot walk amongst the stones unless you’re on a special private access tour, such as Stonehenge Tours run).
Right, so that’s Stonehenge. Now, let’s travel north (17 miles by crow) to Avebury and consider its attractions…
The largest stone circle in Britain at 1,088 feet across, comprising (originally) 98 sarsens configured as one large circle containing two smaller ones.
The henge of Avebury is deeper, wider, and far more tangible than the slight dip of Stonehenge. If it is ‘henge’ you want – Avebury is the place to experience it.
The only stone circle with a pub in the middle of it (The Red Lion!).
Free to enter (except for parking).
You can walk amongst the stones.
The Avebury landscape (all part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site) contains incredible, unique monuments, including Silbury Hill, the largest man-made mound in Europe; West Kennet long barrow (the best preserved example of a Cotswold-Severn transepted barrow tomb); the Sanctuary; Seven Barrows; the Ridgeway; Fyfield Down sarsen field; and Windmill Hill early Neolithic enclosure and Bronze Age barrow cemetery.
A selection of small businesses selling local produce, art and crafts.
To its deficit, the visitor facilities are pretty basic (a small car-park that is often at capacity in the summer; the National Trust tea rooms are currently only offering takeaway; and service in The Red Lion is glacial). The post office/grocery store is probably the best option for a quick snack.
Nevertheless, I think it is clear that Avebury offers so much and any visitor to the area is missing out on something very special if they don’t include it in their itinerary. While access to Stonehenge remains restricted during current ‘lockdown’ rules (and closed for the Winter Solstice) Avebury provides an excellent alternative that will not disappoint.
Visiting Stonehenge once? Do it with the experts!!!!!
50% OFF STONEHENGE GIFT VOUCHERS Make someone you care about happier through the gift of a unique Stonehenge experience. Full on bragging rights are delivered to the lucky recipient of this gift evoucher, allowing them to choose one of the coolest Stonehenge experiences – you can almost imagine the stories that they will tell once they’ve done this. Give stories, not stuff. View offer
These tours are exclusive to Stonehenge Guided Tours and can not be purchased anywhere else.
Visiting Stonehenge once? Do it with the experts!!!!!
Looking for a unique bucket list gift? Make someone you care about happier through the gift of a unique Stonehenge experience. Perfect for any occasion, birthday, anniversary, a thank you or Christmas. Give stories, not stuff.
Make someone you care about happier through the gift of a unique Stonehenge experience.
Nothing beats being gifted an experience, it’s a present they won’t forget. And the joy of experience day Christmas gifts is that you have the luxury of also going with them if you fancy. So, it’s a gift for both you and them.
Get them started on that Bucket List while there’s time and health to finish it, with a tangible, physical bucket. They can pick an experience whenever life permits. It’s a gift that gives them the opportunity to make unforgettable memories, rather than giving them a reason to make more cupboard space.
It could be that they don’t need anymore physical items or that it would be nice for them to have something exciting to look forward to after coronavirus lockdown.
Whatever the reason, here is a round-up of our best Stonehenge experience gifts for individuals, couples, families or groups of friends. Hopefully these will help create some beautiful, fun, exciting and possibly spiritual moments that your loved ones cherish forever.
Full on bragging rights are delivered to the lucky recipient of this gift evoucher, allowing them to choose one of the coolest Stonehenge experiences – you can almost imagine the stories that they will tell once they’ve done this. Give stories, not stuff.
Tour gift vouchers are valid for 24 months from date of issue and can be used for any future Stonehenge Solstice or Equinox Experience.
We will send an Egift voucher and you can even add your own personal message
THE eGIFT VOUCHER The recipient can book any of our Solstice / Equinox tours (March / June / September / December) Stonehenge gift vouchers are redeemable across the whole of 2021 / 2022 Solstice and Equinox experiences. The Tour gift is valid for 2 years, so they have plenty of time to redeem it. Print at home, receive our physical gift by post or send an email gift! That’s it! When the day comes they enjoy their chosen experience and create beautiful memories for a lifetime!
These tours are exclusive to Stonehenge Guided Tours and can not be purchased anywhere else.
Visiting Stonehenge once? Do it with the experts!!!!!
Stonehenge Tours have been operating since 1995. We are the original and still the best company to offer tours of the Stonehenge Stone Circle. We are based in nearby Salisbury conveniently close to the monument, making us ideally situated to assist with tours from far and wide for those who want an authentic Stonehenge experience. This can range from an individual on a budget tour to a VIP on an exclusive and bespoke customised tour. We have operation centres in London, Bath, Salisbury and Southampton which means we can offer tours and transfers throughout the South West of England.
Over 25 years of insider Stonehenge knowledge Stonehenge Tours have been taking visitors to Stonehenge for 25 years. We are Britain’s leading providers of Stonehenge archaeological, cultural and historical day trips and have a well-earned reputation for high quality and reliable travelling – we’ve been doing it since 1995.
Walk amongst the Stones at Sunrise or sunset on our exclusive Stonehenge inner circle tours
Early Stonehenge Pioneers – The original and still the best! We are a family company with 25 years of experience who concentrate purely on Stonehenge and the surrounding area. We pioneered the exclusive Stonehenge ‘Inner Circle Access’ experience and were the first commercial operator to offer this unique visit. We continue to be the market leaders in exclusive sunrise and sunset tours. Our company is surviving the Coronavirus pandemic and are here for the long term. We welcome customers back again and again. Others follow where we lead……………
We continue to operate exclusive small group tours with our own dedicated tour guides and specialise in customised private bespoke tours designed for individuals, families, small and large groups. Our network of cars, minivans, mini coaches and coaches based in London, Bath, Salisbury, and Southampton mean we can offer tours from all key destinations in the South West of Britain.
We have a reputable and strong working relationship with other leading Stonehenge operators and have direct access to their timetables at discount prices. If we are unable to help with one of our own tours or arrange a private customised tour then we can assist with booking with one of our preferred travel partners. Stonehenge Tours only partners with leading British travel operators that have been tried, tested, and recommended by experts, offer their customers financial protection and the highest standards of customer service and satisfaction.
ONLY STONEHENGE! We are the only UK tour company to focus exclusively on Stonehenge. We do not sell Theatre tickets, Hotels, Eurostar, Flights, etc. We live, breathe and sleep Stonehenge. Visiting Stonehenge once? Do it properly!
BRITISH OWNED AND OPERATED We are a British Company, based in Britain, using British staff and paying British Tax! Over the decades we have been featured on major TV stations, nationwide and international newspapers / magazines and blogs.
BOOK YOUR STONEHENGE TOUR DIRECT We no longer work with TripAdvisor, Viator, ToursbyLocals, GetaGuide, etc, as we are confident that close, direct contact with customers is far more efficient and enables our prices to be more competitive. It also protects customers from some of the ‘scams’ being offered on sites where operators are not approved, licensed or legal – you have been warned! We have a customer-based operation which offers a full care package before, during and also after your tour. We are delighted to announce that 95% of our customers highly recommend us with over 30% repeat business.
Our team of local experts are keen to share their extensive knowledge of Stonehenge and unrivalled transport solutions. We offer:
Half Day Budget Tours of Stonehenge.
Affordable Stonehenge walking tours with our popular ‘meet at Stonehenge option’
Full Day Stonehenge Tours departing from all major SW England cities.
Stonehenge Private Access Inner Circle Tours with sunrise and sunset options.
Bespoke Stonehenge Transport Options.
VIP Signature Tours.
Stonehenge Overnight Budget and Luxury Tours.
Exclusive Sunset Summer and Winter Solstice Tours and Sunrise Spring and Autumn Equinox Tours.
BOOK AND TRAVEL SECURELY. All payments are processed through our Stonehenge Tour secure online platform and bookings are covered by our money-back guarantee. When you travel, our local experts are always on hand to offer help if you need it. All you need to do is contact us with some general information about your requirements and we’ll do the rest.
Visiting Stonehenge once? Do it with the experts!!!!!
Stonehenge and Wiltshire have strong military connections, particularly as Salisbury Plain, a major training ground for the Army is located in the county. Visit some of the most important WW1 and WW2 sights and museums in Wiltshire on this bespoke guided tour with a military expert. Full day and overnight tour options available.
First World War soldiers training at Stonehenge
Stonehenge and Salisbury Plain Stonehenge stood at the heart of the world’s largest military training camp during the First World War. One million men trained for war there between 1914 and 1918, coming from across the Commonwealth.
The MoD has been using the land for training for more than a century, its historic legacy can still be seen today, but it’s also home to the largest area of chalk land in North West Europe, and holds a number sites of great archaeological significance. The War Office first purchased land on Salisbury Plain in 1897. The main acquisition programme was finished in 1920, and the major garrisons were constructed over the next 30 years. The village of Imber was requisitioned by the War Office in 1943. Approximately 12,150 ha is used for live firing and as impact areas This tour covers how aviation developed on Lark Hill from 1909-1914 and how military aviation ‘took off’ around Stonehenge from 1914-1918.
DID YOU KNOW? Spielbergs epic film ‘1917’was made entirely in the UK using Salisbury Plain in Wiltshire.
The Army Flying Museum The Museum holds an extensive collection charting over 100 years of the British Army in the air. With over 35 fixed wing and rotary aircraft on display, the Museum is the perfect place to explore the fascinating history of army aviation.
Military Memories of World Wars 1 and 2. Soldiers carved these regimental badges into the chalk hills in remembrance of those who died in World War I
The Fovant Military Badges Military Memories of World Wars 1 and 2. Soldiers carved these regimental badges into the chalk hills in remembrance of those who died in World War I. The Regimental Badges that have been carved into the downs. It was during World War I (1914/1918) that there was a need to establish training camps for troops engaged in the battlefields of France.
The Rifles Berkshire & Wiltshire Museum within Salisbury’s Cathedral Close. his museum showcases the service of men of Berkshire and Wiltshire from 1743 to the present day. Various temporary exhibitions take place here too and there is a charming riverside garden you can explore after checking out all of the exhibitions on display.
Boscombe Down Aviation Collection Here, you can come face-to-face with aviation restoration, climb aboard several aircraft and learn more about the connections the local area has with flight. The collection is held within a military hangar at Old Sarum Airfield, having relocated from Boscombe Down Airfield a few years ago. Guides are on-hand to help tell you about various aircraft here and if you have children with you, they will love the opportunity to be able to touch the majority of the planes and other aircraft found here.
Church of St. George at the village of Fovant The church of St. George in the village of Fovant has rows of war graves of British and Australian soldiers and it was to the memory of those who had died that the Regimental Badges were carved by their comrades. Many of the original carvings failed to survive the elements and at the end of world war I there were 20 identifiable badges.
Tank Museum. Visit the world’s best collection of tanks. Guaranteed to stop you in your tracks and tonnes of fun for all the family, the world-class Tank Museum in Bovington, Dorset is home to almost 300 vehicles. You can even see the world’s first ever tank – the Tiger Tank. Be in awe of the heavy artillery as you explore six powerful exhibitions spanning 100 years from the ‘Trench Experience’ to ‘Battlegroup Afghanistan’. Seasonal live Tank Action displays take place in the outdoor arena where visitors can even find out for themselves how it feels to ride in a tracked vehicle.
Our private guided military tours can depart from London, Bath, Southampton, Salisbury and can be customised to suit you.
OUR BESPOKE MILITARY TOURS CAN ALSO INCLUDE THE FOLLOWING:
• Portsmouth Historic Dockyard – HMS Victory, HMS Warrior, Royal Navy Museum • RAF Uxbridge • Bletchley Park • Imperial War Museum • IWM RAF Duxford • National Army Museum • RAF Museum • HMS Belfast • Bovington Tank Museum • Winchester Military Museums – Including the Gurkha’s, Royal Green Jackets, The Kings Royal Hussars regimental museums. • Fleet Air Arm Musuem
Eagle-eyed visitors to Stonehenge’s impressive visitor centre will spot the poignant memorial, which is a reminder of the site’s long association with the military, in particular its aviation wing.
The memorial commemorates the site of an early military aviation accident on 5th July 1912, in which Capt Eustace Loraine and his passenger Staff Sgt Richard Wilson became the first members of the newly formed Royal Flying Corps to die while on duty. The memorial stone was moved in 2012 from Airman’s Corner to make way for a roundabout, as part of the access for the new visitor centre.
The area’s connection with aviation took off in the 1880s, when reconnaissance balloons belonging to the Royal Engineers could have been seen ascending over the ancient landscape, alarming locals and livestock. From 1897 the War Office started buying up large tracts of land around Stonehenge. They had been using Salisbury Plain for…
One of the more out-of-this-world theories that coalesce around Stonehenge is that it was built by aliens, or is in some way connected with extra-terrestrial intelligence.
Does this look like an alien ship? ‘Flying saucer’ UFO is captured hovering over Stonehenge, claim conspiracy theorists
Although easy for most of a critical persuasion to dismiss or even to scoff at as an example of the credulity of some people on a par with the Flat Earth Society, the association is worthy of discussion for the very fact it exists as one star in a whole constellation of theories which the world-famous site has attracted. The alien theory has arisen through a combination of factors:
The paucity of written records about the purpose of Stonehenge, originating as it did in 3 phases over a 1500 year period from 3100-1600 BCE in the Neolithic.
The association of monoliths and stone circles with…
The awe-inspiring stone circle of Avebury, a few miles north of Stonehenge, is also part of the UNESCO World Heritage site, and rightly so, but unlike its more famous neighbour, Stonehenge, is unfenced. On this walking tour of the site, you will be able to wander freely among the stones.
Unique to this guided tour is the sense of being in an ancient and sacred place; the combination of the natural and historic sights is simply spectacular.
The Story of Avebury: (10,000 years in 60 minutes) Explore the amazing UNESCO World Heritage Site of Avebury – home of the largest stone circle in Britain – in the company of an author and Megalithic academic.
In this low-level walking tour we’ll delve into Deep Time to explore the amazing history of Avebury. Meeting at the main car-park you’ll be guided around the Avebury site by a lecturer, author and storyteller, who will bring alive the epic sweep of Prehistory in situ. The walk will circumnavigate the main circle of the stones, and will be divided into four sections:
PART 1: A LINE IN THE CHALK We explore the first quarter of the Avebury circle, and delve 10,000 years into the past, as we look at the earliest activity in the area from the Mesolithic period (8500-4500 BCE). We’ll hunt and gather the evidence of the earliest human activity in the area, and spend time up-close-and-personal with the standing stones – a chance to tune into their energy and connect to ancient history if you wish!
Incredible trees once visited by The Lord of the Rings author, JRR Tolkien
PART 2: ROLL OUT THE BARROW We explore the second, most dramatic, quarter of the Avebury circle – with the most iconic megaliths, the mysterious obelisk, and the Goddess and Altar stones, plus the amazing beech grove with its offerings (a chance to spend a moment meditating within these incredible trees once visited by The Lord of the Rings author, JRR Tolkien). We explore the key period for the construction of Avebury (Neolithic 4500-2500 BCE), when the massive henge was created and the mighty sarsen stones transported and erected. We’ll also look at the Bronze Age (2500-800 BCE), when we start to see Round Barrows appear in the surrounding landscape.
PART 3: STONE-SMASHERS & ANTIQUARIANS We move onto the picturesque third quarter of the Avebury circle, with its charming thatched barns – and the iconic Cove pair of stones. Here you’ll learn about the destructive Middle Ages – when there was a spate of stone-smashing, which ended disastrously! And then we’ll galloped ahead into the Early Modern Period, where we’ll meet the gentlemen antiquarians who first ‘discovered’ and surveyed the Avebury monument. We’ll learn of their fanciful theories, and you can decide how wide of the mark they were!
Avebury is a Neolithic henge monument containing three stone circles, around the village of Avebury in Wiltshire, in southwest England. One of the best known prehistoric sites in Britain, it contains the largest megalithic stone circle in the world
PART 4: MR MARMALADE SAVES THE DAY In the fourth quarter of the Avebury circle, we’ll bring the story up-to-date, from the Late Victorian to the Present Day. Weaving amongst the stone you’ll learn how the son of a ‘marmalade magnate’ saved the stones and radically transformed the village of Avebury – preserving it for future generations. You’ll be shown the picturesque National Trust section, with the Alexander Keiller Museum (entry not included), gift shop and tea rooms. Here we’ll end the tour, unless you wish to continue chatting over refreshments!
This walk is not about covering lots of distance, but about zooming in on the details – things that may easily be missed by the casual visitor. Each magnificent megalith will be observed up-close, and time will be allowed for connecting with the stones and for photo-opportunities.
*There will be an option afterwards for refreshments either at the National Trust tea rooms or The Red Lion. A village shop also sells snacks and drinks.
Activity: light. Slopes/steps. Suitable footwear recommended. Duration: 90 minutes (including introductions and collection from car-park).
Stonehenge could be called ‘Storyhenge’, for this Neolithic monument – ancient, mysterious and yet world-famous and one of the most photographed landmarks on the planet – attracts stories like a magnet does iron filings. In the absence of written records left by the original builders a plethora of narratives have accreted around the striking circle of megaliths, which stand taciturn and proud on Salisbury like so many cousins of the Easter Island moai. Long after the original architects had become part of the landscape themselves – cremated remains cooling within grooven earthenware beakers buried in post-holes, or entombed in long barrows – and long after living memory and oral tradition had faded, the stories moved in, claiming the stones for their own, like the resident population of jackdaws who nest in the nook and crannies of the trilithons: each story raucously claiming attention above the rest – Listen to me!…
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