A sense of place

One of the reasons that we moved to Lockeridge some 15 years ago is its proximity to Avebury. For those who don’t know the area, many of us think it far more interesting that the more popular Stonehenge. It’s a world heritage site and there are a mass of wonderful sites in the area from white horses carved into the sides of hills to the mystery of Silbury Hill. I found this brilliant photograph on Flickr of the stones by bristol_bound who from the rest of his photostream has a sense of light and composition which is a delight. I have a couple of favourite walks from the house here. One takes me up through neolithic field systems littered with sarson stones, known locally as Grey Wethers (they look like sheep) then dropping down on the old London-Bath mail coach route to Avebury as the sun sets. It’s always a mysterious experience at dusk and you find yourself looking over your shoulder in fear from time to time. The other takes me up through one of the remaining ancient forests of Britain, at the right time of the year saturated with bluebells, and thence a long exhilarating ridge walk following the Wans Dyke, ending up with a pint of 6X at the Wagon and Horses in Beckhampton. My earlier post today dealt with the aesthetic of a play, opera and rugby match. This one with the human interaction with landscape over 4,000 years. A sense of being situated, of belonging is important to all humans.