Monday, January 23, 2017

An English Adventure, Part 2

AVEBURY

Avebury is an ancient village in England.  To give an idea of its location, think of it as west of London, east of Bath, and north of Salisbury.  Avebury is a village built in and around ancient pillars similar to Stonehenge.  In my opinion, while Stonehenge is awesome to visit, Avebury is much more interesting because one can walk around the village and touch the stones in the circle.  Stonehenge is cordoned off, and no one can walk inside the stone circle.

The Professor and I had visited Avebury  in 2004, but my daughter wanted to see this ancient site.  One of her life goals is to visit all the ancient sites on a list she has.  Yes, interest in ancient history is a theme in Willow's family.

The first order of the day was LUNCH.  Lunch in the Red Lion Pub.




Eleanor enjoyed her lunch, too.


It's always a good thing to kiss the lion.


How can I describe the amazing experience of walking around this place?
The village itself was lovely, even in the rain, or maybe especially in the rain as the misty atmosphere added to its mystery.  Wouldn't you love to live in a place like this?


The church and the chapel






And the sheep!  There really were sheep grazing everywhere.  I wonder if it ever occurs to those sheep that they are wandering around in a famous and aged place, or do they just focus on that next chomp of grass?




But it was the standing stones and circles which delighted and drew us to this place.
This link and this link and this link will describe the history and significance of the stones.  There is just too much for me to write, and the official sites do a better job of it.  But here are photos of our experience there.







The stones along the ridge way led us to our next adventure...

10 comments:

Tracy said...

How BEAUTIFUL... every bit, just so beautiful! :))) Back home, where I come from in the US, there is a small town/village called Red Lion... We've not been to Avebury--yet, but hope to. Your pub lunch looks so good... mmm...Nothing like a pub lunch after tooling around seeing sights! Looking forward to more from your trip, Willow! ((HUGS))

Sara at Come Away With Me said...

So interesting to see Avebury when the trees are bare. We were there in June all those years ago. Everything was green and leafy. I'm guessing all those sheep care about is the next chomp of grass. Eleanor is a well-traveled rabbit. Lucky rabbit to get to travel with you and your daughter to England.

Gracie Saylor said...

Thanks for the lovely photos and links, Willow. It is such an interesting place and how great that it is littered with plenty of sheep. I just started reading the book, Tiny Churches and your photos help me imagine how the countryside might look, at least in some areas.

Anonymous said...

What an interesting and lovely place! Thank you for taking the time and effort to share it with us, especially as it is probably the only way some of us will see it. Appreciate the links. Mary

Faith said...

Oh I can't wait for my Courtney to get home tonight so I can show her these photos. Her dream is to live in England one day. My neice actually lives in Bath currently.

I love history of places too and what a fun village to explore. Now I will go check out those links!

thanks for sharing. Oh and i LOVE the spot of color..that blue! against the stone where your daughter is holding the umbrella.

A Joyful Cottage said...

Beautiful. I love it all. The photo of you in the blue jacket and the blue umbrella is stunning. Really stunning. xo

ellen b said...

you make me want to go back again. Love seeing and hearing about your time.

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Knitting Linguist said...

I love Avebury - what an amazing place! Thank you for sharing such beautiful photos :)

Barbara said...

Of course when my children were young one just walked over to Stonehenge from the road and touched the stones. I thi9nk they were cordoned off when people tried to scrape bits of the stones.