I always struggle to think of things I want for my birthday (I don’t do “stuff”) so this year I asked for an experience instead. And what an experience it was! We had a VIP tour of Stonehenge at sunrise before members of the public arrived. There were about 15 of us but, as you can see from the photos, it felt like we were alone for a lot of the time. There was a guide on hand to answer any questions we had and we enjoyed walking around between the stones (we weren’t allowed to touch them) and soaking up the atmosphere. The weather was cloudy and drizzly so we didn’t get the glorious sunrise we were hoping for but it was just as atmospheric, just in a different, soggy way. A beautiful hare even popped out to say hello. It wasn’t bothered by humans at all so we stood watching it for ages. I love stone circles. Really really love stone circles. And of course this is the ultimate stone circle. What a fantastic way to start off our stone age topic!
After returning to the hotel for our buffet breakfast, we then went back to Stonehenge to look round the exhibition centre and then go to the stones for one last time. There wasn’t much in the centre to see really; I think we spent more time in the shop than looking at the exhibits! The girls did enjoy seeing the reconstructed stone age houses outside and having a go at moving an enormous stone sarsen. After 30 minutes or so, we just wanted to get back to the stones. We walked from the centre through to the stones on the well marked path with everybody else this time; it took around 30 minutes. We all enjoyed the walk, even though it was very hot, but were grateful for the bus on the way back!
