Unique English Villages: Avebury & Lacock

On the second day of our England road trip, we visited two villages, Avebury and Lacock. They are both medieval villages and major tourist attractions owned by National Trust, but that is where all their similarities end. Avebury is famous for having the largest prehistoric stone circle in Europe. The Avebury stone circle is basically part of the village, as opposed to Stonehenge and many other stone circles that are isolated and far away in the fields. Lacock is famous for its preserved look of a thriving wool trading village and serving as a filming location for many movies (including my favorite, Pride and Prejudice BBC mini series). Lacock Abbey is also the place where the oldest existing camera negative was made in 1835.

Avebury

Before the trip, I read that Avebury is less crowded than Stonehenge. Well, when we came to visit, it was packed with people, and most of them were dressed in the hippie style. We did not immediately realize that it was June 21, the day of the summer solstice, but when we did, it all clicked into place. We walked around the stones for a while, but it was hard for us to tune into the atmosphere produced by the place and all its New Age pagan community.

Finally, when we were ready to leave, I decided to take a shortcut to the parking. I made Alex go across the Avebury henge and up the hill where we were supposed to be joining the trail back to the parking. Unfortunately, the way to the trail was blocked by a fence. It was not a very tall fence, but it had horizontal wires that I could not climb over, under or through. I really did not want to go back. I tried one of the posts of the fence, and it appeared to be loose, so I kind of pushed it halfway on its side and stepped over it. Problem solved. Alex complained for a while that I broke a fence at a World Heritage site, but I responded that the fence was already loose and, besides, they should let people take shortcuts because there are too many interesting sites to visit in England, and without shortcuts it becomes a challenge. Alex listened to my arguments and then put the fence back up to pretend that nothing happened.

Lacock

By the time we made it to Lacock, the tour buses left already, so the village was almost empty. It is a pretty place, but similar to other Cotswolds villages. Still, we went around the place, bought a couple of souvenirs and took some pictures.