Adam's Grave

Walk up onto the Wiltshire downs near Marlborough and you'll find yourself at a Neolithic long barrow that's been here for roughly five and a half thousand years. Adam's Grave sits on the edge of Alton Barnes, a modest earthwork that doesn't announce itself with fanfare - you're looking at a roughly rectangular mound with a ditch running alongside it, the sort of thing that takes a moment to appreciate properly.

It's genuinely free to visit and accessible year-round. The real draw here is the walk itself. The site sits on the Ridgeway, so you can approach it from Marlborough itself or loop it into a proper ramble across the downs - the whole area is gloriously open, with big views stretching across the Wiltshire landscape. Archaeologists reckon it once contained communal burials, though what you see now is what survives after thousands of years of ploughing and weathering.

This isn't a place for the kids if they need constant stimulation - there's no interpretation board, no visitor centre, just the monument itself and a lot of silence. But for walkers with any interest in prehistory, it's absolutely worth the detour, especially if you're camping at one of the sites nearby like Ridgeway Campsite or Honey Bee Glamping. The Ridgeway National Trail runs right past it, making this a natural stop rather than a special trip. Allow an hour or so if you're walking from Marlborough, or just half an hour if you're already on the downs. Spring and autumn are best - summer crowds the Ridgeway, and winter can make the chalk paths slippery.