Flaxland Fishery to Lydiard Millicent

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We started the day with blue eggs, fresh from the Fishery which also features many different breeds of chicken and other more exotic looking breeds of common pet animals.

Fresh Blue Eggs
Rabbit at Flaxland Fishery
Geese at Flaxland Fishery
Flaxland Rabbit

For lunch we headed via foot to the Sun Inn at Lydiard Millicent where we met David and Cathy. Nice pub and excellent company for the afternoon. A good 8 mile round trip, impeded only once by a herd of cattle which simply would not let us past!

Cattle Jam

Now whilst these cows looked friendly, a local walker did point out that someone in the area was trampled by a herd of cows just last week. We managed to find a detour.

Flaxland Fishery – out and about

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Our first day near to Wootton Bassett and first on the agenda was a trip to Avebury.

Avebury is a Neolithic henge monument containing three stone circles, around the village of Avebury in Wiltshire, England. One of the best known prehistoric sites in Britain, it contains the largest megalithic stone circle in the world. It is both a tourist attraction and a place of religious importance to contemporary pagans.

It appears to be run by some kind of collaboration between English Heritage and the National Trust. Moe’s National Trust membership allowed us free parking and entry into the Manor gardens. The Manor itself remains closed due to continuing Covid-19 restrictions.

Constructed over several hundred years in the Third Millennium BC, during the Neolithic, or New Stone Age, the monument comprises a large henge (a bank and a ditch) with a large outer stone circle and two separate smaller stone circles situated inside the centre of the monument. Its original purpose is unknown, although archaeologists believe that it was most likely used for some form of ritual or ceremony. The Avebury monument is a part of a larger prehistoric landscape containing several older monuments nearby, including West Kennet Long Barrow, Windmill Hill and Silbury Hill.

Avebury Manor
Stone Circle at Avebury

In the eveing we hiked across the fields from the Campsite to the Bolingbroke Arms to enjoy yet another post-lockdown meal and drinks.

Bolingbroke Arms, Hook near Swindon

Arrival at Flaxland Fishery…

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The last time we saw Ruby the caravan was around a month ago, on the back of a low-loader near Dartmouth bound for the repair centre at Swindon caravans.

Anyhow, she was returned to us on Thursday, newly glued and screwed back together.

It’s the May bank holiday weekend and probably the first since lockdown was removed. It is also forecast to be preominantly warm, dry and sunny. We decided we would take the newly repaired van somewhere local to where it had been repaired (Wootton Bassett, near Swindon).

We hadn’t figured out just how busy this weekend would be. After around 20 fruitless phone calls, we decided to email and text a whole plethora of sites in the area. Over the next 24 hours, two sites had a vacancy for 5 nights.

We chose Flaxland Fishery, near to Wootton Basset and only a mere 10 minutes drive from the Caravan service centre.

Flaxland Fishery CL site

There is a nice view from the pitches across the fishing lakes. The only slight downside to the loction is that being around 200m from the M4, there is a constant hum of traffice noise.

Flaxland Fishery view over the lakes
View over Flaxland Fishing lakes

There are 5 pitches here, the maximum allowed for a Certified Location. Each pitch is equipped with it’s own dedicated water supply and electricity and the site is quite relaxed at having the grey water nourish the plants and trees.

Our pitch at Flaxland Fishery
Our pitch at Flaxland Fishery