Bratton Camp and White Horse, Bratton, Wiltshire
What Bratton Camp and White Horse is famous for is of course the enormous white horse carved into the chalk hillside on the escarpment of Salisbury Plain close to Westbury; no one really knows when it was done but this artwork is a whopping 180ft tall and 170ft wide so it’s visible from miles around. It’s been suggested that it was carved in the 1600s to commemorate a battle that may have taken place there centuries earlier; who knows?
Anyway, it’s a nice place to go; the views are incredible, reaching far across the Wiltshire countryside; just above the horse is an Iron Age hillfort that was built over 2000 years ago and interestingly, it’s also the site of a Neolithic long barrow that was there 3000 years before that, so historically, it’s a very important site.
It’s also important ecologically as the chalk grassland habitat is home to a plethora of insects including the scarce forester moth and Adonis Blue butterfly. Take a rug and find a nice spot for a picnic, fly a kite, play French cricket or have a kick about; there are some good circular walks too, if you fancy stretching your legs. The car park is free, you can take the dog but keep him on a lead if there are sheep grazing, and don’t wear your high heels because these slopes are very steep.
All information correct at the time of writing