The Playboy of Avebury?
Well it's the weekend and with the rest of the staff off enjoying themselves it's Michael here in the office keeping on eye on things so that all the tours operate smoothly. I'm looking forward to tomorrow morning as tonight at 03:00 the clocks go back an hour - it's a little much for most tourists as they are just getting used to being in a new time zone and the clocks change yet again - add to this that most people don't keep much of an eye the time while they are on vacation and I can hear the calls tomorrow morning already:'Hello is that Astral Travels? I've been waiting for over half an hour for my tour -where are you???' After which I'll have to explain about the time change. Everyone normally has a laugh about it and is thankful for the extra cup coffee that they can have before departing.
Last weekend in Glastonbury was excellent - and on the way back we decided to stop at Avebury. Most people haven't heard about this little gem tucked away in the countryside - it has a larger stone circle then Stonehenge and .......... well really that's about it. There's a handful of houses, a small shop/post office and of course (like every British village) a pub!
The stone circle at Avebury completely surrounds the village as has been reconstructed from the original stones that were excavated from the area along with concrete pillars that mark where the missing stones used to stand. The really odd thing about all of this work to put the stone circle back together (and one of my favorite stories) is that it was all privately funded in the 1930's by a man by the name of Alexander Keiller. Alexander was a man born of privilege who inherited a huge amount of money at the age of 9 (from a great marmalade fortune - believe it or not) and became something of a playboy in later life. Alex was a playboy with difference - his interests were fast cars (he set a company that copied Rolls Royces at one point), women and in strange twist - archaeology. In short the Avebury that we see today is down to not only his funding but also his passion for the area and its ancient secrets. In 1943, Keiller sold his holdings in Avebury to the National Trust for £12,000, the agricultural value of the 950 acres he had accrued and not reflecting the immense investment he had made at the site.
In 1966, the museum at Avebury and its contents were donated to the nation by his widow, Gabrielle. Avebury was inscribed as a World Heritage Site in 1986, and in 2000 it received over 350,000 visitors. We visit Avebury on several tours that we offer - however without Mr Keillers efforts the great stone circle in the village would by now be just another urban myth.
posted by Londons Premier Tour Operator @ 11:15 AM
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