UKC

Morning , 

I've always wanted to go down south to see Stonehenge and  I'd also love to go walk around some crop circles and have a look .

Anyone camped down that way before and done similar that can offer any recommendations as to where to stay .

TWS

The 'classic' place to camp for all things circle-related is at the Barge Inn:
https://www.the-barge-inn.com/

The best site to keep up to date on circles, and if you can access them is:
http://www.cropcircleconnector.com/2019/2019.html

I used to live in Oxfordshire and spent a lot of time visiting the ancient sites, and visiting circles. I don't believe they're in any way mysterious; I believe people make them, but I loved the interplay of it all: people (artists, in a way) make the circles, and then the people who love woo interpret them to be from aliens, etc.

As for Stonehenge, I find it sad and disappointing. It's too busy and next to a main road. If you visit, be sure to wander off into the wider landscape where fewer people go. There are plenty more barrows and earthworks there. It's also worth visiting some of the other Wessex sites that I think are more atmospheric: Avebury, West Kennet Long Barrow, Waylands Smithy, Devil's Den, Windmill Hill, Liddington Hill, Whitehorse Hill, The Wansdyke, Adam's Grave. The Modern Antiquarian is a great resource for info:
https://www.themodernantiquarian.com/site/424/southern_england.html

Be sure to pack your walking boots. There are some great long tramps to be had in linking some of these ancient sites.
 

Thanks for that that's very helpful of you .

:-D

TWS

Avebury, Silbury Hill, West Kennet etc are much ‘better’ in that they retain some magic about them.  I’d go there tbh. 

No worries, it's a topic I like to talk about. Just ask if you have any other questions I might be able to answer.

Avebury is much, much more interesting that Stonehenge - you could spend a happy day pootling around finding unexpected stones and barrows - it's a much bigger sute than first appears. And having done that, you could do far worse than to set off along  the Ridgeway. The route is almost as old as the downs themselves, you'll see hill forts and barrows, and you'll jostle with the ghosts of the men of old (and the herds of pigs  they used to drive along it to the markets in the Thames Valley). I ran it (in manageable  chunks) last summer and loved it. Often deserted. And if you hapen to like Terry Pratchett's books about Tiffany the witch, this is her country, the land that used to be under the waves.

Thanks .

That sounds just the sort of thing i'm interested in doing .

As I say I've never been down that way so suggestions are very welcome . 

Thanks .   

Just for information .

I don't believe aliens make crop circles.

For those that might .

Good, because of course they don't. Crop circles are caused by a welling up of the earth's latent psychic energy field through intersecting ley lines. Nothing to do with aliens at all.

Well that sounds much more plausible

I heard that it's dependant on the chalk layers in the aquifers too.  

Well bless my cotton socks!

The Modern Antiquarian owner deserves a reward for such an in depth and fascinating Website!

Sidbury Hill, with a D, just north of Tidworth.  Great place

I strongly suggest heading north, if you enjoy such things. Orkney is a paradise of wild landscapes, barrows and circles. You can get up close and touch the stones, feel the history, and generally have a much more intuitive and natural time exploring our history than at Stonehenge. 

For what it's worth, my sister used to be a deputy manager of Stonehenge for a while and Orkney is by far her recommendation for anyone who wants to understand how the neolithic people may have been existed. 

Thanks.  

I will look into it .  I'm interested in all such things and only mentioned Stonehenge really as it's the best known of them all so it sprang to mind.  I should really of asked about stone circles and barrows in general.  

Apart from the ones in Derbyshire I've never visited any others . 

Tell a lie I went and saw one in the lakes sometime ago.