Avebury, Stourhead & Bradford On Avon, Sunday 23rd March 2025.

Our final day in this lovely part of the world, saw us firstly visiting the amazing world heritage site at Avebury. 

This site is just amazing and it was great to see the standing stones up close and personal, unlike the nearby Stonehenge. When we visited it was quite atmospheric with the cloud formations and sun just showing through the clouds, a brilliant experience.

It is amazing to think the standing stones here first began to be erected in the 3rd millennium BC, making them just over 5000 years old.

After enjoying Avebury the next place we visited was the lovely Stourhead estate, close to the town of Mere, which is, as the name suggests, near to the source of the River Stour.

It is a 2650 acre estate with some really nice grounds and lake to walk around and the house is a grade 1 listed Neo-Palladian mansion which was previously owned by the Stourton family.

A few nice birds seen while we walked around the grounds included a Red Kite, Grey Wagtail, 2 Crossbill and 4 Chiffchaff.

Our final destination for the day was the lovely little town of Bradford On Avon.

It is situated along the River Avon and the Kennet and Avon Canal and is a lovely picturesque little place, with lots of history stretching back as far as the Roman occupation of Britain.

Well what a lovely few days away in this pretty and historic part of the UK, one of which we will certainly visiting again, now for the journey home!.

Bradford On Avon

Stourhead

Avebury

Beautiful Bath, Saturday 22nd March 2025.

What a great way to spend our wedding anniversary today, visiting the historic city of Bath.

It was also really nice to catch the local bus into Bath which only took 35 minutes from Melksham. Along the journey we even managed to see 4 Cattle Egrets and a couple of Red Kite, just brilliant.

After arriving in Bath, we had some brekkie and the headed for the famous Roman Baths.

The Baths were created as part of a temple between 60 and 70 AD and were in use up until the Romans left Britain in the 5th century AD, and a small settlement here was known as Aquae Sulis.

I was so impressed with the amount there is to see here, as quite a good proportion of the ruins are under cover, a great place to visit if you are interested in Britain's ancient history.

After looking at the Roman Baths, we visited Bath Abbey and then looked around the other city sights, such as the Royal Crescent, Circus and Pulteney Bridge.

The latter is the iconic view of the city as it spans the River Avon.

Well what a lovely city to visit, with all its interesting history and I've never seen a city with so many places to eat.

The following are my favourite photos from our day.

Pulteney Bridge.

The Circus

The Royal Crescent

Bath Abbey

The Roman Baths.

 

Bourton On The Water & Castle Combe, Friday 21st March 2025.

A few days away with Mrs R, staying at Melksham in Somerset, saw us visiting some lovely places.

On the journey down to Melksham, we stopped off at Bourton on the Water and then travelled over to beautiful Castle Combe.

The latter is possibly one of the prettiest villages we have ever visited, and is quintessentially the chocolate box village you could imagine on an advert to visit the UK, just beautiful!.

The following are my favourite photos from our first day away.

Castle Combe, As You Enter The Village.

Bourton-on-the Water