In today’s travelpost I take you to Avebury which really has tons of history for you… why don’t you join me 🙂

Avebury is a little village in Wilthsire, not far from Marlborough (of which you can read this post). It’s a lovely little village with heaps of cute cottages and stylish Georgian homes.

But the village is best known for its Neolithic henge monument and it is actually part of the Stonehenge and Avebury World Heritage Site because of its outstanding Neolithic and Bronze age monumental landscape.

The monument contains three stone circles, situated around the village and it is a very important tourist attraction, but also a place of religiuos importance. It consists of a larg henge with a large outer stone circle and two separate smaller stone circles situated inside the centre of the monument and was constructed during the New Stone Age (= Neolithic).

In the early Middle Ages, a village was built in and around the monument.

During our visit to Avebury, we walked around and between the ancient stone circles, feeling humble against that piece of world history.

We also visited Avebury Manor and Garden. This Grade I-listed 16th century manor house is located close to the neolithic henge monument and is certainly well worth a visit on its own.

The manor house was originally built in the 12th century and has been altered  and extended throughout the ages. The garden was redesigned in the early 20th century. Both house and gardens are no longer privately occupied but owned by the National Trust.

The manor house is a fabulous place to visit. In 2011 it was completely refurbished in a collaboration between the BBC and the National Trust and now each room represents another period from the 16th century to the early 20th century.

The volunteers urge you to try and test things out in the different rooms: you can lie in the beds, play billiards, listen to music, read the newspaper,… This house is therefore so different to many other period houses. It also makes it a fun trip with the kids! They can dress up, play in the kitchen,…

The garden was very beautifully kept. A big applause to the gardeners as it was a very hot and dry summer, so it must have been quite some task to keep the garden looking fresh and colourful!

We did visit Stonehenge last year (see this post), but actually I loved our visit to Avebury much more. It was less touristy, you can visit the many henges for free and you get a lovely looking village with a fabulous manor house on top!

Have you already visited prehistoric sites? Which ones? Tell me in the comments!

Love, Kathleen