WHY I love Wiltshire Travel writer Helen Ochyra explains why her home county of Wiltshire is her favourite place. My favourite English sight is not what you might expect. If I tell you it’s in Wiltshire, my home county, you might not be surprised. But then you’re probably thinking it must be Stonehenge – that iconic circle of ancient stone that stands in testament to prehistoric man’s ingenuity. Or perhaps that it would be Salisbury Cathedral, its slender stone spire reaching higher into the English sky than any other. No, my favourite sight in England is a beer delivery vehicle. But this is no lorry, no truck speeding along our country’s modern roads. This is a brightly painted wooden wagon, its navy blue sides and jaunty red wheels pulled along by two gorgeous Shire horses, their dark manes shining, their snow-white feet clip-clopping through the ancient Market Place. Every weekday these handsome beasts bring freshly brewed ale from the brewery to the traditional pubs and inns around the market town of Devizes. You can hear them coming from at least a street away, and every time people – even the locals held up in traffic – stop to admire these famous Wiltshire residents. This is the joy of Wiltshire. On your first visit you might stand in the middle of Stonehenge circle as dawn lights the sky around you and a new day begins at the county’s most famous attraction. But second visits – and 20 th visits – allow time for the lesser known, and this is when Wiltshire works its magic. When you find those things you never would have expected. One might be Silbury Hill. This ancient mound the size of an Egyptian pyramid stands tall amid the ancient landscape of Avebury, seemingly saluting me as I return home along country roads. Nobody knows why it was built, or exactly when, but what I do know is that it must have been important – owners English Heritage are fiercely protective of the hill and no climbing is permitted. No matter. I prefer instead to delve into the landscape itself, ducking behind the vast slab-like sarsen stones that guard the entrance to West Kennet Long Barrow, a Neolithic tomb atop a chalky ridge half a mile or so from Silbury Hill. This is one of England’s largest and most accessible Neolithic chambered tombs and stooping to enter you can walk more than 10 metres into it, the years peeling back with each and every step – as far back as 3650BC, when the barrow was most likely built. From the top of this chalk ridge the farmers’ fields run in gold and green down into the UNESCO World Heritage Listed site at Avebury. This is Wiltshire’s “other” stone circle and I have taken it to heart far more than I ever could with Stonehenge. Here the stones are free to access, and you are free to touch them – hug them if you want to – as you stroll around a circle far larger than its more famous sibling down the road and, for me at least, far more atmospheric. Here a village stands amid the stones and a pub, the Red Lion, serves local ales beneath a traditional thatched roof. You can visit as early or as late in the day as you want to and in winter might see the whole thing covered in snow, a truly arresting sight. Nature is never far from view in Wiltshire and the county is home to several Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty. My favourite is the Cotswolds, where crumbling dry stone walls run between jade and emerald fields and ancient churches stand sentry over sleepy villages cast in honey-coloured Bath stone. The prettiest is Castle Combe, a village so tiny and so immaculate that cars simply had to be banned. Now visitors must take it in solely on foot, strolling between the cottages and buying homemade cakes and home grown flowers from the locals as the church bells toll in the background. Close by is Bowood Estate, where I love to choose my favourite, fleeting, rhododendron colour in the Woodland Garden every spring, and have happy childhood memories of clambering over and onto a pirate ship, in the best children’s adventure playground I have yet to discover anywhere. I remember, too, walks with my family through the postcard-perfect formal gardens at Stourhead. And climbing up next to Westbury white horse, standing beside the brilliant white beast carved into the chalky escarpment of Salisbury Plain. In Salisbury I remember walks across the water meadows, the cathedral’s spire piercing the blue sky above, and proper Sunday roasts with my grandparents in ancient pubs like the Haunch of Venison – home to many a ghost story too. There is a lot to love about Wiltshire, but my first love will always be Devizes, where those Shire horses still make me stop and stand awhile every time I hear them. The pace of modern life is hectic but there is always time to come home. There is always time for Wiltshire. > Castle Combe > Biddestone 4 #timeforwiltshire > Stonehenge > Bowood
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