Window Wednesday this week feature the Wiltshire Window
Having ventured out in Betty the Bus to Devises , just an hour and half a way it was a relatively easy drive, even in the pitch black in a beast of a vehicle that Mr B had never driven before. We didn’t manage to see Stonehenge on the way past as it was dark, but we did manage to get a glimpse on the way home.
The campsite was right by a bus-stop so the plan was to jump on the bus to Devizes for a quick mooch about before then walking the three miles back to the campsite, taking in the Caen Hill lock system.
Except it started to rain
And we found a pub
So the locks will have to wait until the next trip, but we did really love Devizes and I thought I would share a few pics from our wanderings.
The pic at the top, in the middle of a wall in an alcove is called the Wiltshire Window and is on display in the Town’s museum
The Wiltshire Museum is well worth a visit, especially as there are masses of local finds and information on the area. It is laid out so that it is really simple to follow and wander through time seeing how the area has been shaped. There is also currently an exhibition of WW1 American propaganda posters. It was fascinating to think that in a time before mass circulation print media, TV or radio, this was how the US galvanised support for the war effort.
The Wiltshire Window shows landmarks including Kennet Avenue, Silbury Hill, Barbury Castle, Devil’s Den and the Cherhill White Horse. There is also, in the foreground, some artifacts that may have been discovered in a freshly excavated barrow. The burial urns include the “Stonehenge urn (which is huge) and the Upton Lovell amber necklace.
In the bottom left of the window is a Friar’s Thistle, a downland flower that rarely grows outside of Wiltshire.
It was the perfect place to spend an hour or two away from the rain and I am so pleased we stumbled across it. It made me think that maybe next time we go away for the weekend we should do a bit more research as it would have been a shame to miss it.