From the car park make for the main exit path leading into the village of Avebury and follow it to the road. Turn left, walk past the church and go right, opposite the Rectory. Turn left at Hunters House and walk down the drive. Tucked away behind the church, Avebury Manor is visible. Cross a footbridge and a further bridge before forking right.
In 50yds (46m) climb the stile on your right and proceed ahead to cross a footbridge via stiles. Bear left across the field to a stile, head straight on across the next field to double stiles, then maintain direction across the following large field. Negotiate three stiles at the field boundary and follow the left-hand edge of a water meadow to a stile. Turn left through a gate and ascend along the right-hand field edge to another gate. Continue uphill to a gate on to Windmill Hill.
The hilltop has a tangible air of isolation about it and a true sense of the ancient past. From the top there are magnificent 360-degree views over this remote part of Wiltshire. Walk through the earthworks and keep to the right of a small wood. Go downhill to a gate and turn left along the track, forking right at the end of woodland into more open countryside. Follow the path to the left of woodland and go through the gate on the left. Keep to the left field-edge, go through a gate on your left and continue along the right edge of the adjacent field. Maintain direction to a gate and keep ahead along a fenced track.
Bear sharp right through a gate and turn left at a junction with a track. This route becomes Bray Street, which narrows to a path and rejoins the outward journey by the footbridges on the outskirts of Avebury. Keep ahead through Avebury and turn right in the main street to return to the car park where the walk began.
If Avebury Manor seems familiar to you, even though you know you have never been there before, that is almost certainly because in 2011 it became the subject of a BBC television series, The Manor Reborn, presented by the actress Penelope Keith. During the series the house was completely refurbished... and restored to its original Tudor splendour. In all, nine rooms were improved as part of the project and the work was undertaken by a group of historians, design experts, volunteers and enthusiasts. The team worked closely with members of the National Trust, who manage Avebury Manor. A true note of homeliness Originally a monastery, the present house was built some time between 1555 and 1580. At one time a farmhouse, one of its previous occupants was William Dunch, a wealthy courtier and auditor for the Royal Mint. Dunch probably rebuilt the house, using sarsen stone. Sir James Mervyn and his wife extended the manor in 1601. Their initials can be seen carved over the porch. At the start of the 20th century Avebury Manor was restored by Colonel and Mrs Jenner, who made the house a ‘model of vernacular restoration,’ as Simon Jenkins describes it in his book England’s Thousand Best Houses. The house has also been described as boasting: ‘a true note of homeliness…with enough variety of style and character to give a sense of continuous habitation.’ After the mid-1930s the house changed hands a number of times; it remained empty for many years, though from time to time plans were drawn up to transform it into a business. Eventually in 1991 it was acquired by the National Trust and refurbished by tenants. Among the rooms the public see are a library and a hall, lit by striking Elizabethan windows. On the first floor are the Tudor Bedroom, with an overmantle dating back to about 1600, and the Great Chamber above the hall. Here, the embroidery of the bedcovers is a superb example of Mrs Jenner’s needlework. International visitors The gardens are also worthy of close inspection and include yew and box topiary. However, it is the manor’s setting that provokes the most surprise among its many visitors. Avebury Manor is surrounded by some of Wiltshire’s greatest and most treasured antiquities. Being a World Heritage Site, Avebury attracts an international array of visitors – up to 5,000 every year – who come here, often on their way to nearby Stonehenge, to inspect and photograph the legendary ancient circle. Its true origins are shrouded in mystery – as are those of Stonehenge, of course – but some historians believe the site, described by John Aubrey, a 17th-century archaeologist, as ‘as much surpassing Stonehenge as a cathedral doth a parish church,’ may have been chosen as a burial ground for tribal chiefs. The stones and the other antiquities at Avebury would have been familiar to the early 19th-century social reformer William Cobbett, who explored the area and described the Vale of Pewsey to the south as ‘my land of promise.’
Wiltshire’s charm lies in the beauty of its countryside, with expansive chalk landscapes of the Marlborough and Pewsey downs and miles of uninterrupted views deep into Dorset, Somerset and the Cotswolds. Stroll through quaint timbered and thatched villages in the southern Woodford and Avon valleys and explore the historic streets of the stone villages of Lacock, Castle Combe and Sherston.
From the car park make for the main exit path leading into the village of Avebury and follow it to the road. Turn left, walk past the church and go right, opposite the Rectory. Turn left at Hunters House and walk down the drive. Tucked away behind the church, Avebury Manor is visible. Cross a footbridge and a further bridge before forking right.
1 of 4
In 50yds (46m) climb the stile on your right and proceed ahead to cross a footbridge via stiles. Bear left across the field to a stile, head straight on across the next field to double stiles, then maintain direction across the following large field. Negotiate three stiles at the field boundary and follow the left-hand edge of a water meadow to a stile. Turn left through a gate and ascend along the right-hand field edge to another gate. Continue uphill to a gate on to Windmill Hill.
2 of 4
The hilltop has a tangible air of isolation about it and a true sense of the ancient past. From the top there are magnificent 360-degree views over this remote part of Wiltshire. Walk through the earthworks and keep to the right of a small wood. Go downhill to a gate and turn left along the track, forking right at the end of woodland into more open countryside. Follow the path to the left of woodland and go through the gate on the left. Keep to the left field-edge, go through a gate on your left and continue along the right edge of the adjacent field. Maintain direction to a gate and keep ahead along a fenced track.
3 of 4
Bear sharp right through a gate and turn left at a junction with a track. This route becomes Bray Street, which narrows to a path and rejoins the outward journey by the footbridges on the outskirts of Avebury. Keep ahead through Avebury and turn right in the main street to return to the car park where the walk began.
If Avebury Manor seems familiar to you, even though you know you have never been there before, that is almost certainly because in 2011 it became the subject of a BBC television series, The Manor Reborn, presented by the actress Penelope Keith. During the series the house was completely refurbished... and restored to its original Tudor splendour. In all, nine rooms were improved as part of the project and the work was undertaken by a group of historians, design experts, volunteers and enthusiasts. The team worked closely with members of the National Trust, who manage Avebury Manor. A true note of homeliness Originally a monastery, the present house was built some time between 1555 and 1580. At one time a farmhouse, one of its previous occupants was William Dunch, a wealthy courtier and auditor for the Royal Mint. Dunch probably rebuilt the house, using sarsen stone. Sir James Mervyn and his wife extended the manor in 1601. Their initials can be seen carved over the porch. At the start of the 20th century Avebury Manor was restored by Colonel and Mrs Jenner, who made the house a ‘model of vernacular restoration,’ as Simon Jenkins describes it in his book England’s Thousand Best Houses. The house has also been described as boasting: ‘a true note of homeliness…with enough variety of style and character to give a sense of continuous habitation.’ After the mid-1930s the house changed hands a number of times; it remained empty for many years, though from time to time plans were drawn up to transform it into a business. Eventually in 1991 it was acquired by the National Trust and refurbished by tenants. Among the rooms the public see are a library and a hall, lit by striking Elizabethan windows. On the first floor are the Tudor Bedroom, with an overmantle dating back to about 1600, and the Great Chamber above the hall. Here, the embroidery of the bedcovers is a superb example of Mrs Jenner’s needlework. International visitors The gardens are also worthy of close inspection and include yew and box topiary. However, it is the manor’s setting that provokes the most surprise among its many visitors. Avebury Manor is surrounded by some of Wiltshire’s greatest and most treasured antiquities. Being a World Heritage Site, Avebury attracts an international array of visitors – up to 5,000 every year – who come here, often on their way to nearby Stonehenge, to inspect and photograph the legendary ancient circle. Its true origins are shrouded in mystery – as are those of Stonehenge, of course – but some historians believe the site, described by John Aubrey, a 17th-century archaeologist, as ‘as much surpassing Stonehenge as a cathedral doth a parish church,’ may have been chosen as a burial ground for tribal chiefs. The stones and the other antiquities at Avebury would have been familiar to the early 19th-century social reformer William Cobbett, who explored the area and described the Vale of Pewsey to the south as ‘my land of promise.’
Wiltshire’s charm lies in the beauty of its countryside, with expansive chalk landscapes of the Marlborough and Pewsey downs and miles of uninterrupted views deep into Dorset, Somerset and the Cotswolds. Stroll through quaint timbered and thatched villages in the southern Woodford and Avon valleys and explore the historic streets of the stone villages of Lacock, Castle Combe and Sherston.
