The Amphitheatre

An open-air theatre in the middle of Wiltshire countryside - The Amphitheatre is exactly what it sounds like. You're sitting on proper grass terracing under the sky, watching performances unfold on a stage that feels genuinely intimate despite the scale of the space. The setup works brilliantly for summer theatre, especially on those long June evenings when it doesn't get dark until nearly ten.

What makes it tick is the simplicity. No roof, no walls, just you and the actors and whatever the English weather decides to throw at you. Comedy tends to land harder here than in stuffy indoor venues. Drama takes on a different weight. If you're staying at one of the nearby caravan parks - Summerlands or Green Hill Farm are both excellent - it's absolutely worth checking what's on during your visit. The drive from Salisbury takes barely twenty minutes.

Families with older kids will get proper enjoyment from it, though younger ones might fidget on the grass for two hours. Take a cushion, definitely. Bring a jumper too - it gets chilly once the sun drops, even in summer. The real pull is the experience itself rather than the venue's bells and whistles. It's theatre done properly, in the round, with no distractions. If you catch the right production, you'll remember it more than you'd remember seeing the same show in a commercial theatre.