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Around Devizes you will find some of the most beautiful scenery in the country, as well as a wealth of activities and points of interest. You can examine the relics left to us by our ancestors of thousands of years ago, walk or cycle among the hills and forests, or explore quaint villages and hamlets. In the cold weather you’re guaranteed to find a cosy pub with a roaring fire, and in the summer you can relax in a pub garden and watch village life pass you by.

Pewsey Downs National Nature Reserve lies on the edge of the Marlborough Downs, overlooking the Vale of Pewsey, and is just one of a suite of National Nature reserves throughout the country established to protect the most important areas of wildlife habitat and geological formations. The reserve is open to the public on foot, although visitors are asked to respect the farming on the Downs by closing gates and keeping dogs under control. The Downs, famous for the White Horse carved into the hillside, are home to an abundance of chalk grassland flowers including the Burnt-tip, Lesser Butterfly and Fragrant orchids. They also support typical chalk grassland butterflies such as the Marbled White and Dark Green Fritillaries.

Around the tiny village of Avebury, about eight miles to the northeast of Devizes, is one of the best prehistoric sites in Britain. The Avebury World Heritage site is actually a collection of ancient sites dating back to the Neolithic and Bronze ages.

Avebury Stone Circle is contained within a massive bank and ditch, and is the largest stone circle in Europe. To the south of the village is The Sanctuary, a ceremonial site of concentric stone and timber circles, linked to Avebury by the West Kennet Avenue of Stones.

Sadly it was destroyed in the 18th century, and today concrete pillars mark the six concentric rings of post holes.

Twenty-seven sarsens remain from the original 200 standing stones, set in pairs and stretching 1.5 miles along West Kennet Avenue, between the stone circle and the Sanctuary.

West Kennet Long Barrow is a stone-chambered tomb with an earth mound 100 metres long. It is the largest stone-chambered collective tomb in England and Wales.

To the north, Windmill Hill is the largest earthwork of its type in Britain. Originally a Neolithic causeway enclosure dating back to 3,500BC, the bowl barrow and bell barrow between the inner ditches are part of a Bronze Age cemetery.

Also at Avebury and dating from the Bronze Age are Overton Hill Barrows, a cemetery of six bowl and bell barrows with an exceptionally fine bell barrow close by.

To the south of Avebury and located next to the main A4 road stands Silbury Hill. Little is known about this massive, man-made mound except that it dates back to at least 2,400BC. Standing 40 metres high and with a base covering 5.5 acres, one can only imagine the massive effort needed by primitive man to build such a hill.