We picked up a rental car in Bath – a silver Vauxhall Corsa, almost identical to the one we had in Scotland in 2019. We then hit the road (driving on the left side of course) and had two great day trips.

The first village we visited was Bradford-on-Avon, a historic market town that can be traced back to Roman times. The Old Church House was built by Thomas Horton around 1500. It has had a number of uses, including being a hall for clothiers, a British Girl’s School and a Boy’s Grammar School. It has been the Masonic Hall since 1913.

The Bridge Tea Rooms dates from 1502 and is a Double Winner of the UK’s Top Tea Room. Unfortunately, it wasn’t tea time for us so we didn’t try it out.

The Holy Trinity Church dates back to the 12th century.

Bradford on Avon was an important religious center in Saxon times and St Laurence’s Church is one of the most complete and important Saxon buildings still in existence. It is believed to have been built in the 11th century possibly as a refuge for the relics of Edward the Martyr, the step-brother of King Ethelred (the unready), who was murdered at Corfe Castle.

We stopped in the village of Shaftesbury, a small market town in Dorset with a history going back to Saxon times. St Peters is the most ancient of all the churches in Shaftesbury and stands in the High Street. It was built in the latter part of the 15th century. We strolled around looking at the buildings and had hearty Ploughman’s sandwiches for lunch.

Our final stop of the day was Avebury. Stonehenge and Avebury are both Neolithic stone circles located southwest of Bath. We visited Stonehenge in 1983 and don’t believe the stones have changed since then (except we were able to get much closer to them than you can today). Everyone visiting the UK should see Stonehenge, but having done that, we chose Avebury for this trip.

We did happen to pass Stonehenge on our way to Avebury so here is a shot from the road.

Avebury is unique for its vast size – a village is tucked into its centre and roads travel between its stones. The stones date to 2800 BC – six centuries older than Stonehenge. You are able to walk right up to the stones, and also visit with the sheep grazing in their shadows.

It was a great day trip! We would definitely recommend visiting these villages and most especially, Avebury.

Cheers,

Bev & Harvey