UK Vacay: Stonehenge, Avebury, Lacock, Castle Combe

For our last full day in England, Allison and I took a bus tour to see a few sites around Bath.

Stonehenge

TADA!

"Behold the magnificence of Stonehenge!"

"...Guys? Can I be in Stonehenge?"

"No!"

[holding back sobs] "Alllll byyyy myyyyseeeelf..."

"Aww, poor little rock."

YOLO!

"You shall not pass!"

After that, we headed towards Avebury, passing by a white horse on a hillside.

Avebury

Avebury is another town known for its ancient mystical stones. The stone circle is so huge that it winds around the town and is bisected by a couple of roads.

Around the stones a giant ditch dips down, with a bank on the outside. The ditch was dug out thousands of years ago from the chalky hillside and erosion has caused things to settle back down a bit, but you can still see where the ditch is. A chalk path winds around some of the circle. I walked a bit down the path, but we didn't have much time to explore. Everything about this place was intriguing, especially because researchers still don't know everything.

In the 1930s, an archaeologist studied this stone circle and tried to preserve the history. The smaller stones were placed by him as a way to mark where larger stones had been. Apparently some of them were missing because locals would take the stones and break them up for use in building materials.

We saw several buildings with thatched roofs on our trip. 

Old Norman church

The darker stones are flint.

 Lacock

Next, we went to Lacock, a village entirely owned by the National Trust. The only way to live in Lacock is to have an ancestral tie to the village. Everything there was historical!

Allison and I had a nice lunch at a pub, where we shared fish and chips, followed by sticky toffee pudding. Everything was so delicious, I just want to go back in time and eat that lunch all over again!

I'm not a huge drinker, but the beer here is just so much better. Especially this one! 

Another Norman church

Sheep gate outside the church.

 Unfortunately, the skies opened up and rain poured down while we were here, so I didn't get too many pictures.  

Castle Combe

Our last stop on the tour was to Castle Combe. This old village was NOT owned by the National Trust, and according to our guide, houses here cost millions of pounds. 

Yet another Norman church