5 Horses and a Kiwi

Here's another winter solstice drive visiting the seemingly pagan but mostly quite recent chalk art of Oxfordshire and Wiltshire. It starts at the genuinely ancient bronze age Uffington White Horse and runs to the definately not ancient Bulford kiwi.

The Uffington horse is 3000 years old but timeless in its minimalism. It is near impossible to see from the ground, this photo courtesy of USGS. But even if you can't see the horse, the view from the top is good.

Dragon Hill Road, named for the legend that St George killed the dragon around there, is brilliant but likely to be full of walkers and takes patience. At the bottom of the hill we turned left and followed the B4507 to Ashbury and onto the B4000 (with opportunities for overtaking). From Upper Lambourn we took the backroads, plus a short stretch of the A346, to our next horse at Hackpen Hill. Made in 1836 to celebrate Queen Victoria's coronation it can't be seen until you're at the bottom of the hill and driving away from it, but there's nowhere to stop and the way the road unfolds down the hill into a long straight is distracting.

Next was a bonus non-equine drive through Avebury, a standing stone circle so big a village fits inside it. From Avebury it wasn't far to the third horse at Cherhill which we could see as we drove past on Labour-In-Vain Road (really), and if you miss it there's there's a view from a layby some 400 metres after the welcome to Cherhill sign.

The road to Alton Barnes and the fourth horse was fast. This horse can also be seen from the road, although it is quite far away and rather small. The best view comes at Alton Barnes crossroads where, taking a left then a quick right, you briefly look directly at it.

Our final horse was at Pewsey. The road is fine but we got only a glimpse of the horse. There is a layby at the top of the hill where we could have stopped and walked to it, but by this point they were all starting to look the same, and next was a drive across Salisbury Plain which was the real reason we were doing this.

The road over the plain is good, but a carpark just south of Everleigh is best. From here tracks radiate out into a Nomad playground. We stayed until we remembered there was one more place to visit and it was getting dark.

Our last stop at Bulford was to view a kiwi. Cut into the chalk after the first world war by New Zealand soldiers who, impatient to get home, caused a riot and needed something to do. This one actually has a viewing site on a hill opposite, up an unmade track.

So yes, I must confess that of the five horses we only really got to see two and a half.

Five white horses and a kiwi route for GPS