The New Inn Bed and Breakfast is a great base for exploring the rich & diverse county of Wiltshire.

One of the most important megalithic monuments in Europe is spread over a vast area at Avebury, much of it under Trust protection. The great stone circle, encompassing part of the village of Avebury, is enclosed by a ditch and external bank and approached by an avenue of stones.  Nearby, Windmill Hill was once the site of an important Neolithic settlement and has several well-preserved Bronze Age burial mounds.
A short walk from Avebury is the magnificent man made Silbury Hill and the West Kennet Long Barrow which still stands today as it has done for about 5500 years, albeit minus the 46 burials, ranging from babies to old people.
West of Avebury, the Iron Age earthwork of Oldbury Castle crowns Cherhill Down, along with the conspicuous Lansdowne Monument. With the spectacular folds of Calstone Coombes, this area of open downland provides wonderful walking opportunities.

Stonehenge, Woodhenge and the new finds at Durrington Walls are about 20 miles away


 
© Crown Copyright 2006  www.ordnancesurvey.co.uk/getamap
Image produced from Ordnance Survey's Get-a-map service. Image reproduced with permission of Ordnance Survey and Ordnance Survey of Northern Ireland.
A good map showing the walking track from The New Inn to Avebury, Windmill Hill, The Ridgeway etc. Just follow the Diamonds !

Local Area
Winterbourne Monkton is situated in the heart of the old Wessex County.
It is also situated among such prehistoric areas as Windmill Hill, Avebury Stone Circles,Silbury Hill, West Kennet Long Barrow & 'The Sanctuary'.
The location of the old inn is ideal for exploring the rich & diverse county of Wiltshire.
Close to established walks, such as The Ridgeway & within easy access to the historic towns of Calne
Devizes & Marlborough. We are on a main travel route from Swindon.

The largest surviving stone circle in Europe, Avebury formed the centre of one of the most impressive Neolithic ceremonial landscapes in Britain. The great circles, 200 standing stones arranged in an outer and 2 inner circles, surrounded by a massive bank and ditch, were the focal point of the area. They were connected by the West Kennet Avenue of standing stones to the Sanctuary on Overton Hill. Hundreds of great sarsen stones from the downland around, were used in the construction of the site, some 2500 - 2200BC. It is thought that the circles may have taken centuries to complete. Destroyed by local people during the Medieval and later periods, the stones were partly restored to their original positions by Alexander Keiller in the 1930s. The site is now owned and managed by the National Trust..

The recent discovery of a huge Neolithic settlement at Durrington will help Our understanding of how and why these magnificent circular structures were built.

click here to visit the Kennet Council's web site