Grand houses, thatched cottages, and ancient ruins

Wheww!!!! Much ground has been covered today as I roamed the country lanes around Salisbury. I was a caricature tourist for the first half hour, jumping out of the car to photograph the thatched cottages, until I realised there were an awful lot of them, and I did not actually have to photograph every one!!!! The country lanes have lived up to my expectations of hedgerows, and wandering streams and towering archways of green meeting overhead in a gorgeous green gloom. Getting lost a few times was even better, as I discovered little serendipitous treasures of fabulous villages straight off those chocolate boxes, with names to match. Teffont Magna, and Great Wishford were the two little gems of today, but there were several others of equal charm. (Photos to be attached shortly when my poor camera has recovered enough to upload some photos.)

Wilton House was the next stop, with the wonderful Inigo Jones Cube Room and Double Cube Room. I was the first person there for the day, so I was pounced on by eager guides who wished to give me a personalised tour to break their tedium. A huge Van Dyck larger than my house adorned one end of the Double Cube Room, and had been brought down from the Earl of Wilton's London town house on an open cart!! The grounds were stunning, with a beautiful Japanese-inspired water garden.

My umbrella began the first of its regular subsequent outings at this point, as the English summer weather demonstrated the reason for the lovvely greenery everywhere. Glastonbury is on this weekend nearby, so I imagine it wll be the usual mud-bath there as well.

After Wilton house I headed through an enchanting country lane route towards Stonehenge. Crossing the solid traffic jam headed to Glastonbury, I arrived at the Stonehenge parking lot in time for a parade of Druids leaving the site, draped in white robes and assorted other strange paraphernalia. The effect was somewhat dampened however, as they all gathered under a Warehouse-style gazebo in the parking lot, and all handed over their white Druid robes to be packed up into Warehouse-style plastic boxes for loading into the back ofa very non-Druid white panel van. They all looked like slightly tatty supermarket shoppers, rather than mystical priests and priestesses.Stonehenge itself was suitably amazing, and it is a very evocative place, high on the windswept plains with panoramic views of the surroungding countryside. The Summer Solstice the previous day had had the sun rising through the most northerly arch, and it would then start to travel back along the arches to the Winter Solstice.

Old Sarum was next on the list, so I again struck an eager-beaver guide who took two of us on an exhaustive and exhausting tour of the ramparts and rooms of the old Sarum fort. They have only excavated down as far as the Norman ruins - the Roman ruins of Sorviodunum are 17ft further down, and the Iron Age ones are deeper down again. The ourline of the cathedral which preceded the Salisbury Cathedral can also still be seen.

So at this stage I crawled back to Salisbury, to succeed in getting myself lost for hald an hour driving around the one-way streets, overshooting where I needed to go, and getting stuck in places I couldn't get out of. A kind lady took pity on me, and told me to follow her car to lead me to the entrance to Mary's street - there are lovely people everywhere when you need them!!

So I have done country lanes, thatched cottages and villages, stately homes, prehistoric ruins, and a Norman fort all in one day - hence the exhaustion...... Tomorrow is Stourhead.