Scenic Place in Wiltshire

Castle Combe in the Cotswolds of Wiltshire has been described on several occasions as the most beautiful village in England, a title it shares with several competitors but wears with some justification given the particular perfection of its combination of Cotswold stone buildings, the Bybrook stream running through the lower village and the complete absence of any intrusive modern development that might disturb the essentially medieval character of its streets and buildings. The village was used as a location for the filming of Doctor Dolittle in 1967 and various other productions since, and the absence of television aerials, satellite dishes and modern shop fronts from the main street reflects the village's commitment to maintaining its historic character. The village developed its prosperity during the medieval and Tudor periods as a cloth-making centre, and the wealth generated by the wool trade funded the building of the handsome Perpendicular Gothic church of St Andrew, the market cross and the stone-built cottages along the main street that create the streetscape for which Castle Combe is celebrated. The church contains memorials to the de Dunstanville family, who gave the village its name from the castle that stood above it in the Norman period, and to other local families who benefited from and contributed to the medieval prosperity of the settlement. The lower village, where the Bybrook flows between stone-built cottage gardens and beneath an ancient packhorse bridge, is the most picturesque section and provides the views most reproduced in Cotswold tourism literature. The combination of the stream, the bridge, the mill and the cottages in a narrow valley setting creates a scene of particular concentrated beauty that is most rewarding in the early morning before the visitor traffic of the day begins. The Castle Combe motor racing circuit, confusingly, is located at a considerable distance from the village and bears no visual relationship to the historic settlement.

Lacock in Wiltshire is one of the most completely preserved medieval and early modern villages in England, a National Trust village whose combination of the fourteenth-century Lacock Abbey, the medieval village street plan, the picturesque houses of various periods from the thirteenth to the eighteenth century and the significance of the abbey as the birthplace of photography creates a heritage destination of quite exceptional depth and historical breadth. The absence of pylons, telegraph poles and television aerials from the village makes it one of the most frequently used film locations in England for period productions. Lacock Abbey, founded in 1232 as an Augustinian nunnery and converted to a house following the Dissolution, was the home of William Henry Fox Talbot, the inventor of the positive-negative photographic process whose calotype method, developed at Lacock in the 1840s, established the fundamental principle of modern photography. The Fox Talbot Museum in the gate-house of the abbey traces the development of the photographic process from the earliest experiments at Lacock to the modern era. The village is entirely in the ownership of the National Trust and the complete control of the built fabric that this provides has allowed the preservation of a medieval street plan and a collection of buildings of many periods that together create one of the most comprehensive small historic settlement experiences available in England. The film productions that have used Lacock include Pride and Prejudice, Downton Abbey and numerous other period dramas.

Stourhead in Wiltshire is one of the supreme masterpieces of English landscape garden design, an early eighteenth-century garden created around an artificial lake in a wooded valley by Henry Hoare II between 1741 and the 1780s that established many of the principles of the English Landscape style and remains one of the most perfectly composed and most visited gardens in Britain. The garden takes its inspiration from the classical landscapes of the Roman campagna as painted by Claude Lorrain and Nicolas Poussin, placing temples, grottoes and bridges around the lake in a series of composed views designed to evoke the pastoral Arcadia of ancient literature. The circuit walk around the lake is the defining experience of Stourhead, each step revealing new composed vistas that place the classical buildings in calculated relationship to the water, the surrounding woodland and each other. The Pantheon, a domed temple modelled on the Pantheon in Rome, provides the visual climax of the garden seen from across the lake, its reflection in the still water completing a composition of extraordinary harmony. The Temple of Apollo on the hillside, the Grotto with its sleeping nymph, the Gothic Cottage and the Bristol High Cross imported from Bristol to add a medieval element to the classical programme complete a circuit of remarkable concentrated beauty. The surrounding woodland, planted by Henry Hoare with a variety of deciduous and evergreen trees, provides the framework within which the classical buildings are set and changes character dramatically across the seasons. The spring flowering of rhododendrons, azaleas and magnolias transforms the garden with colour from April through June, while the autumn foliage of the beech, oak and other trees creates a quite different but equally spectacular seasonal display. The Palladian house at Stourhead, managed separately by the National Trust, contains a significant collection of furniture, paintings and Chippendale furniture of international importance.

The Westbury White Horse is one of the oldest and most famous chalk hill figures in England, carved into the steep northwestern face of Bratton Down on the edge of Salisbury Plain in Wiltshire. This magnificent equine figure stretches approximately 180 feet long and 108 feet high, making it one of the largest white horses in the country and certainly the most visible from the surrounding valleys and roads below. The horse faces left and is designed to be viewed from the Vale of Pewsey, where it dominates the landscape and can be seen for miles around. Unlike some other hill figures that can be difficult to discern from ground level, the Westbury White Horse maintains excellent proportions and clarity, presenting an instantly recognizable silhouette against the green hillside. The current horse dates from 1778, when it was recut and redesigned by a Mr. Gee, a steward to Lord Abingdon. However, local tradition maintains that a much older horse existed on this site before the 18th-century redesign, possibly dating back to the late 9th century and commemorating King Alfred's victory over the Danes at the Battle of Ethandun in 878 AD. While historians debate the veracity of this connection, 18th-century illustrations show a more primitive horse figure at this location, suggesting some form of earlier carving did indeed exist. The 1778 redesign transformed the horse into the elegant, classically-proportioned figure we see today, reflecting Georgian aesthetic sensibilities. The horse was given a more refined head, flowing mane, and graceful stance that differs markedly from the cruder, more ancient style of the original figure. Standing near the horse itself offers a completely different perspective than viewing it from afar. The chalk trenches that form the outline are surprisingly deep and wide, requiring regular maintenance to prevent the grass from encroaching and obscuring the brilliant white surface. The chalk itself is dazzling on sunny days, almost blindingly bright against the green turf. Walking along the trenches gives visitors an appreciation for the sheer scale of the figure and the labor involved in both creating and maintaining it. The surrounding grassland is typical chalk downland, rich with wildflowers in spring and summer, including orchids, harebells, and various rare chalk-loving species. The sound up here is dominated by skylarks in warmer months, their continuous trilling song a characteristic feature of this upland landscape, along with the rustling of wind through the short turf. Immediately adjacent to the white horse sits Bratton Camp, an impressive Iron Age hill fort that predates even the earliest possible version of the horse by many centuries. This prehistoric earthwork features substantial ramparts that still stand several meters high, enclosing an area of approximately 25 acres. The combination of the hill fort and the white horse creates a landscape layered with thousands of years of human activity. From the ramparts of Bratton Camp, visitors are treated to spectacular panoramic views across the Wiltshire countryside, extending as far as the Mendip Hills in Somerset on clear days. The village of Bratton lies at the foot of the hill, while the larger town of Westbury sits in the valley below, its name forever linked to this chalk landmark. The Westbury White Horse underwent significant changes in the 20th century when it was concreted over in 1873 to reduce maintenance requirements, though this concrete was later covered with chalk blocks. In the 1950s, the figure was further modified with the addition of a concrete base covered with white painted blocks and later white painted concrete, making it one of the few hill figures that doesn't require regular scouring by volunteers. While purists sometimes lament this modernization, it has ensured the horse remains consistently visible and well-defined year-round, unlike traditional chalk figures that can become obscured between scourings. This permanence has made the Westbury Horse perhaps the most reliably viewable chalk horse in England. Visiting the white horse is straightforward, with a car park accessed via a narrow lane that climbs steeply from the B3098 near Bratton village. The car park sits right at the top of the escarpment, offering immediate access to both the hill fort and the horse itself. The site is freely accessible at all times, with no admission charge, and is managed by Wiltshire Council. The paths around the area are generally well-maintained, though they can be muddy after rain and the slopes are steep in places. For those arriving by public transport, buses serve Westbury town, from where it's a steep walk or taxi ride up to the site. The climb from Westbury to the horse is challenging but rewarding for keen walkers, taking about 45 minutes from the town center. The best times to visit are during clear weather when the views are at their finest, particularly in the early morning or late afternoon when the slanting light picks out the contours of the landscape. Summer offers the advantage of longer days and abundant wildflowers, while autumn can provide stunning light conditions and fewer visitors. Winter visits have their own appeal, with frost sometimes highlighting the horse's outline, though the exposed hilltop can be brutally cold in strong winds. The site is popular with dog walkers and families, particularly on weekends, but the hill is large enough that it rarely feels crowded. Those with mobility limitations should note that the terrain is steep and uneven, making it challenging for wheelchairs or those with walking difficulties, though the views from the car park area are themselves impressive. A fascinating aspect of the Westbury White Horse is its role in local aviation history. During the Second World War, the horse was covered with turf and netting to prevent it from serving as a navigational landmark for German bombers. In more recent decades, the figure has occasionally been altered temporarily by pranksters or for special occasions, including being given a blanket for Comic Relief and having its eye replaced with a red nose. The horse has also featured in numerous artistic works, photographs, and has become an iconic symbol of Wiltshire, appearing on everything from local business logos to tourist literature. Geologists find the site particularly interesting as it sits at the junction of different rock types, with the chalk of Salisbury Plain meeting the greensand and clay of the vales below, creating the dramatic escarpment that makes the horse so visible.