Blog (History) - Visit Wiltshire

Last Saturday was exactly the kind of winter’s day I like best – cold and crisp but with plenty of sunshine. Perfect walking weather. This route is one of my favourites as it starts and finishes in the city centre and includes some of Salisbury’s best-loved views.

VisitWiltshire have run several joint-instameets with our friends Igerswiltshire. It’s an opportunity for like-minded photographers, whether using a smart phone or DSLR to get together, share ideas and get creative.

Our fourth instameet of the year was set to be in the market town of Devizes, in the heart of Wiltshire and this time it would coincide with the national Heritage Open Days event.

When did autumn arrive so soon? I must admit when I arrived at Lacock in the glorious September sunshine I wasn’t expecting to see so many colourful leaves dotted on the floor and mushrooms and other fungi growing from the leaf litter in the wooded areas, autumn has descended upon us quicker than I had expected.

When I have overseas visitors coming to stay with me, I always recommend that they make a visit to Avebury. The site here forms part of the same World Heritage Site as Stonehenge but is almost like Stonehenge’s lesser-known sister.

It’s a well-known fact that Wiltshire is a very historical place. There are a lot of mysteries surrounding the history of this county most notably from the henges of Stonehenge and Avebury which form the famous World Heritage Site. Wiltshire is also home to another 'Superhenge', Marden Henge, near to Devizes in the Vale of Pewsey.

Following in the footsteps of Robin Hood (Prince of Thieves was filmed here) I ventured to Old Wardour Castle for a joint instameet with Igerswiltshire.

What better way to spend a rainy and windy February weekend than a visit to one of Wiltshire’s indoor attractions! With this in mind, we planned our first instameet of 2016 with Igerswiltshire at Boscombe Down Aviation Collection at Old Sarum (just a couple of miles outside Salisbury).

Crossing the heart of Salisbury Plain, I travelled to the village of Imber. So what, you may be thinking? Well, Imber’s a bit different to other Wiltshire villages in that it sits in the heart of Salisbury Plain and in 1943 the villagers were evacuated to allow the military to use the area as training grounds in the war efforts.

As part of Heritage Open Days, I made a visit to Calne to join in with one of the town’s first Heritage Week events – a guided tour of the town’s Heritage Quarter.

As my alarm went off before 5am I wondered what I was doing! Wrapping up warm and heading out to my car I journeyed to Stonehenge for an early morning visit.

You may have seen that we’ve just launched some new Saints and Sinners trails in conjunction with The Churches Conservation Trust (CCT). The routes give people the opportunity to explore some of our historic Wiltshire churches with a foodie stop nearby.
I made a visit with Linden from The CCT to two of these churches to discover some of the hidden treasures that lay within them…

Most people know of Tidworth for its military connections. The town sits on the edge of Salisbury Plain and is a major hub for the army. What you may not know is that there’s a couple of hidden gems that visitors can discover on a visit to this town.