Avebury Down

The chalk grassland here rolls across Wiltshire like someone's shaken out a crumpled green blanket, and there's genuine Iron Age history beneath your feet. Avebury Down isn't a single monument - it's a stretch of open downland dotted with ancient earthworks and barrows where Bronze Age burials sit quietly in the grass. You're walking above the remnants of a settlement that mattered over three thousand years ago.

This is proper walker territory. The site works best for anyone into archaeology or landscape history; families might find it a bit underwhelming unless the kids are genuinely interested in bumps in fields. There's no visitor centre or interpretation, which means you either come armed with a guidebook or you're looking at lumps of earth trying to imagine what they meant. That's either the appeal or the drawback, depending on who you are.

Allow two hours if you're serious about it, less if you just want a quick poke around. The nearest proper facilities are in Marlborough, about five miles south. Ridgeway Campsite sits just 3.4 miles away and comes highly rated - proper camping rather than glossy glamping - while Honey Bee Glamping offers something a bit more comfortable if you want to do the archaeological pilgrimage in style. The downland itself is free to wander, though you're partly on National Trust land, so respect the paths. Best visited outside high summer when it's not absolutely rammed with walkers from the nearby Ridgeway trail.