This is the most famous stone circle, and we have been lucky enough to visit a couple of times. On our first visit, we walked round the outside of the stones like everyone else. Wowed at the size and arrangement. Surprised at their seemingly remote location in comparison to where we put structures today. It really is difficult to understand why and how. Our building projects today have architects, engineers and builders at a minimum, so it’s reasonable to think they had the same. This took time, effort and planning, as with all the ancient sites. And quite the feat it was.

Some of these neolithic stones are believe to have come from Wales, the method of how they arrived is still debated, it is even told the stones came from Ireland. Although some are local as well. We also have a legend that the wizard Merlin levitated the stones to where they originally sat, so who can say for sure. All stories start somewhere and often have a basis of truth…

It was special to see. But it was not enough. My husband really wanted to be closer, to get within the inner stone circle of Stonehenge to be among the megaliths – without having to do it only twice a year when everyone else does on the solstice. So we looked online and found a private tour company called Stonehenge Tours that can give you the experience of getting up close and personal. It’s cost more than the standard entry fee, but it’s worth it.

Over 5000 years of history right in front of us, (if you try and ignore that most of these sites have been reconstructed and excavated a number of times in the last few hundred years), and no-one in the whole world can conclusively say why or how. It’s exciting and maddening all at the same time.

Walking around within the stone circle was a different and much better experience, even though you are in a group, everyone was in awe of where you were, it was easy to forget anyone else was there at all.  You also get to truly appreciate the scale and size of these megaliths. They are giant.

It really is hard to understand why there are so many neolithic sites across the country and Europe that follow the same design, maybe not Stonehenge, but certainly a lot of our others. Why did they stop building with stone? It obviously stands the test of time better than any other material. Somewhere along the line something was lost and these structures and sites are all we have left. We can’t get enough of these places and want to keep going back. Stonehenge is even on the list again, but there are so many more sites to investigate and discover that we may be some time…

(c) K Wicks