We left the campsite at 8am on the dot! We had decided that we would drive to a parking area, then go for a walk to Stonehenge. Neither of us wanted to get a ticket for it - I've been before and neither of us like crowds. So we drove to a place called Larkhill (yes, it always reminds me of V for Vendetta) and parked.
The walk was an easy one and there were information boards along the way explaining the lay of the land, as Stonehenge is more than the henge itself. Nearby are old barrows where there are Bronze Age burials, mounds of earth which make up the ceremonial route to Stonehenge, old beech trees and some forest. It was a really nice walk and a good way to see Stonehenge without the crowds.
I didn't have quite enough zoom for closer photos of Stonehenge, but I'm quite pleased with these - you can't get a shot of the full thing from inside the ticketed fence so this is much better!
I'm glad we did the walk, it was so much more interesting than just walking around the stones. Definitely recommend seeing Stonehenge this way if you're so inclined, its so much more than just the standing stones! We walked through the forest nearby and back to the car.
We drove into Salisbury to pick up some lunch and then headed over to the National Trust property Mottisfont. We sat in the car and had lunch, then I went to have a look at the house and world-famous rose garden. Josh, meanwhile, stayed in the car, had a sleep and watched the mountain bike racing on his phone. In his own words "Josh was being tight" and I wanted to see it so I left him there.
We decided that we would go back to the campsite that we'd stayed in last night again, as it was a really nice place to stay with good amenities. But we detoured on the way there and stopped in at Knowlton Church and earthworks.
This Norman church, which was built in the 12th century, is situated at the centre of a Neolithic ritual henge earthwork. The unusual pairing of the henge and the church symbolises the transition from pagan to Christian worship.
That night, the sky was so pretty. We'd set up our tent, it wasn't rainy and so we were enjoying the evening (it wasn't very warm though) and then the sky went pink!
