Three Unique Wiltshire Villages.

If you love a pretty village scene, Wiltshire will not disappoint. There are many villages here, almost all featuring handsome thatched cottages, at least one historic church and a traditional country pub. What more could you ask?

Well, some of the villages in Wiltshire have a little extra something that makes them a bit special. A unique selling point. Here are three I think you shouldn’t miss.

Lacock Village & Abbey.

Laid out on a central grid of four streets with a brook running through the middle, Lacock is the quintessential English village. If the beautifully preserved streets look familiar, the chances are you’ve seen them on screen. Lacock village is a living filming location, having featured in several historical TV shows, including Downton Abbey and Pride and Prejudice.

Historical buildings of note in the village include the Tithe barn, the old work house and the medieval church. The village and Abbey are now cared for by the National Trust, Lacock is still a working village with a resident community.

I’m sure calling a visitor attraction home must have its ups and downs, but residents seem to make the most of it. Loved spotting this cake stand with an honesty box outside one of the pretty historic homes. Cottage industry in action.

Star of the show at Lacock is the abbey. It grew from monastic roots, later growing into a beautiful country home. With a mix of architectural styles and park-like grounds, the abbey is certainly a photographic place.

In fact, it was photography that secured this house a place in history: resident William Henry Fox Talbot took a picture in the house and created the early version of a photographic negative.

Lackock village is full of pretty and imposing historic buildings but don;t overlook one particularly interesting little one; The village lock up. This is a tiny stone cell where drunks and trouble makers could be contained.

These are known in Wiltshire as ’round houses’ or ‘ Blind Houses’ and there are still a few of them about.

Imber: The Lost Village

Nestled in a remote location right in the heart of the MoD’s Salisbury Plain training area, Imber is known as the ‘lost village’. Once a small community scattered between the church and the Manor house, residents were evicted by the War Office in 1943 with just 47 days notice.

Residents were told they would be able to return, but were never ever able to do so

Imber and the surrounding farmland was taken to create a training are for troops that were to be sent to fight in Europe in WW2. It remains a military training area with very limited access to the general public.

The village has expanded as the MoD added purpose built streets to allow soldiers to train for fighting in an urban environment. The mix of historic buildings and battle scarred training streets dotted around with signs warning to stay on the path and out of danger make for a unique atmosphere.

Given the way the village is used, it’s understandable that much of it is in a state of disrepair. That is, with one exception. St Giles Church, always the heart of the village, sits behind its own protective fence and is cared for by the Churches Conservation Trust.

The church is open whenever access to the village is granted and acts as a cafe and information point.

It’s only open to the public for about 50 days a year. Generally when the military are stood down at Christmas, Easter and Summer. Keep an eye on Imberchurch.org for dates and event details.

Avebury Village

Avebury is a pretty little village owned and managed by the National Trust. At the heart of it all Avebury Manor; a Grade 1 listed 16th century manor house. Arranged around it are historic cottages, a church, an old farmyard,

But it’s not the village itself that is unique here; it’s what lies around it. Avebury sits partially within the worlds largest Neolithic stone circle and is part of a World Heritage Site.

The landscape created by avenues of standing stones and ancient tombs surrounding Avebury make for a beautiful place to walk . Four legged friend is optional, but this one always comes with me.  This is farmland so suitable footwear is a must.

As well as being a very attractive thatch roofed village pub, The Red Lion is the only pub in England that sits within a stone circle. Opened as a coaching inn in the 1800’s, the Red Lion is said to be haunted by a lady ghost who is particularly drawn to bearded men.

A village pub within a stone circle, complete with a haunting?  Doesn’t get much more unique than that.

Have you visited any of these Wiltshire villages? Have you discovered a village with an quirky back story? If so I’d love to hear about it, tell me in the comments.

If you enjoyed this post, you might like to read about the village of Cholderton, also in Wiltshire.

Helen x

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