The Best Picnic Spots in Wiltshire

Ancient Stones, Secret Forests & the Most Dramatic Views in England

Here is a thing I have never told anyone.

For two years, I drove through Avebury Stone Circle every single morning on my way to dance college in Swindon. Past the standing stones. Through the village. Past the sheep. At 8am, in the rain, in a Renault Megane with a flask of somthing propped against the gearstick, my breakfast nearby.

I was twenty. I thought I was in a hurry.

Reader, I was not in a hurry. I was driving through one of the most extraordinary places on earth and I barely noticed.

It took me twenty years — and becoming genuinely, professionally obsessed with the history and culture of eating outdoors — to properly understand what I was passing through every day. The largest stone circle in the world. Built over a thousand years, by hand, by people who gathered here to eat, celebrate, mourn, and mark the seasons. The original outdoor gathering. And I was nipping past it to get to a ballet class.

Which is a rather long way of saying: Wiltshire has been quietly extraordinary all along. We've just been driving through it too fast.

If you've been sleeping on Wiltshire as a picnic destination, this post is your wake-up call. Ancient history, dramatic chalk downlands, the kind of forest that makes you feel like you've wandered into a fairy tale, and villages so pretty they've been used as film sets so many times the hedgerows are basically union members.

Here are eight spots that will make you feel very smug about your hamper.

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1. Avebury Stone Circle, Avebury

Let's start with the one that made me feel personally offended at my younger self.

Avebury isn't just a picnic spot. It's the largest stone circle in the world — larger than Stonehenge, older in its construction timeline, and far, far more intimate. At Stonehenge, you look at the stones from behind a rope. At Avebury, you walk among them. You can touch them. The village of Avebury actually sits inside the henge, which means you can wander through 4,500 years of history and then pop into the Red Lion pub for a pint without breaking stride.

The picnic potential here is extraordinary. Find your stone — there are over a hundred of them still standing — spread your blanket in the long grass, and eat your lunch with a sarsen stone the size of a small car for a neighbour. The sheep won't bother you. The history absolutely will.

Note: Avebury Manor was damaged by flooding in January 2024 and has been undergoing restoration. It reopened temporarily at Christmas 2025 and is due to fully reopen spring 2026 — check the National Trust website before you visit if the manor rooms are on your list.

The West Kennet Avenue is particularly good for a post-picnic wander — a Neolithic processional route lined with paired standing stones stretching south-east from the henge. It is, objectively, a more dramatic walk than anything your fitness app has ever suggested.

The Picnic Chronicles note: The people who built Avebury gathered here seasonally — at solstices and equinoxes, to mark the turning of the year. They brought food. They ate together. Four and a half thousand years ago, someone sat in this field with bread and beer and the people they loved. So did you, in a manner of speaking. That's not nothing.

Practical details:

• Parking: National Trust pay and display car park on the A4361 (postcode SN8 1RD). Free for National Trust and English Heritage members — scan your card on arrival. Fills up on summer weekends; arrive before 10am in peak season.

• Facilities: Toilets on site (near the village car park and the Circles Restaurant). National Trust shop and café in the Old Farmyard. The Red Lion pub is inside the henge and is wonderful.

• Nearest farm shop: Cobbs Farm Shop at Hungerford — on the A4 between Marlborough and Hungerford, about 12 miles east. A proper all-rounder: traditional butchery, deli, fishmonger, their own award-winning vineyard, and a café. Open seven days a week. Well worth stopping on your way.

• Best for: History lovers, families, anyone who needs to feel connected to something ancient. Particularly beautiful in early morning mist or golden evening light.

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2. Savernake Forest, near Marlborough

I have a theory about Savernake Forest: it is where you go when the world is too much, and you need it to be a thousand years old and very quiet.

Savernake is the only privately owned forest in England still managed by the Crown — a distinction that feels appropriately dramatic for somewhere this atmospheric. The trees are ancient. The Grand Avenue — a four-mile arrow-straight avenue of beech trees planted in the 1700s — is the kind of thing that makes you stop walking and just stand there with your mouth open. There are oaks here that were old when Henry VIII hunted in these woods. Actually hunted. In these exact woods.

For picnics, Savernake is practically perfect. The Postern Hill area has designated picnic benches and good clearings, but honestly — walk five minutes off the main path and you'll find yourself entirely alone. Pack something generous. The forest air requires proper food.

Bonus point for anyone who likes very specific cultural references: the Big Belly Oak, one of the ancient oaks here, is allegedly the inspiration for Radiohead's The Bends album cover. So it's basically a 1,000-year-old celebrity tree. Respect accordingly.

Practical details:

• Parking: Postern Hill car park — free, no charges. Open daily 8am–7pm (car park is locked at 7pm sharp, so don't linger into the evening unless you're walking in). Postcode: SN8 3HP area, follow signs from the A346 through Marlborough.

• Facilities: Picnic benches and designated BBQ spots at Postern Hill. Toilets open Easter to end of October half-term. No café on site — bring everything you need, which is honestly part of the charm.

• Nearest farm shop: Cobbs Farm Shop at Hungerford — on the A4, about 10 miles east of Savernake, and genuinely one of the best farm shops in the region. Butchery, deli, fishmonger, café, and their own sparkling wine. Marlborough itself is a lovely market town minutes from the forest with a good high street if you've forgotten something.

• Best for: Atmospheric walks, proper wilderness feeling, families who want space to roam. Stunning in autumn when the beeches turn.

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3. Westbury White Horse & Bratton Camp, near Westbury

I went here last weekend. Last weekend. And I am still thinking about it.

Here's my confession: I lived in Frome for years — a stone's throw from Westbury — and I'd only ever been once before, on a charity walk for an old school friend fighting cancer. It was not the most joyful introduction. And somehow, after we moved, I just never went back.

Last weekend I finally went properly. Just went up. And I am genuinely annoyed at myself for waiting this long.

Here's what happens: you park, you get out of the car, you look south over the Vale of Wiltshire, and time does something strange. It just . . . stops. The view is enormous — twenty miles in every direction, Somerset visible on a clear day, Glastonbury Tor sitting there on the horizon like it's waiting for you. I felt calm instantly. The kind of calm that doesn't come from trying. The kind that just lands on you when you're somewhere that puts the world back into proper perspective.

The open space up top is vast. Genuinely enormous. Wide flat grass, big skies, room for a full family gathering — football, kites, a sprawling picnic blanket situation, all of it. I'm already planning a big summer picnic there. You might actually bump into me.

And then there is the ice cream van.

I want to be clear that the ice cream van is not a footnote. The ice cream van is part of the experience. He was there at the weekend — perfectly placed, perfectly nostalgic, the kind of van that makes you feel seven years old in the best possible way. He does Biscoff. He does strawberry. He does these enormous sharing tubs. He does sherbet sprinkles and hundreds and thousands, which is frankly an embarrassment of riches. And when I asked for something a bit different, he made me a custom Kinder Bueno sundae on the spot. Reasonably priced. Excellent ice cream. I am, genuinely, considering going back just for that.

The history, while you're here, is extraordinary. The white horse below the hill fort is 182 feet long, cut into the chalk — bright white, visible for miles across the vale. There's been a horse here since at least AD 878, when King Alfred allegedly commissioned the original to mark his victory over the Danes at the Battle of Ethandun. Local legend adds that Alfred then had the designer beheaded because the horse was facing the wrong way. Brutal notes, Alfred. The hill fort itself — Bratton Camp — is Iron Age, over 2,000 years old, and the earthworks are still dramatic.

But honestly? Even without any of that history, the view alone earns its place on this list. Come for the chalk horse. Stay for the ice cream.

Practical details:

• Parking: Large free car park adjacent to the hill fort. Access from the B3098 — the lanes are steep and narrow, not suitable for coaches or large vans. Postcode: BA13 4TA.

• Facilities: No on-site toilets — nearest are in Westbury town centre (about 2 miles). The ice cream van is a regular presence in fair weather — but bring your own food and drink as backup. English Heritage manages the site; no entry fee.

• Nearest farm shop: For a proper pre-picnic shop, Hartley Farm Shop & Kitchen at Winsley, near Bradford on Avon (about 8 miles north-east), is excellent — local meat, seasonal veg, deli counter, and a café.

• Best for: Families who need serious space — this is the spot for a big gathering, football, kites, the works. Views that make everything feel smaller and better. Dogs welcome but must be on leads — sheep graze the site. No BBQs or open flames permitted.

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4. Lacock Abbey Grounds & Village, Lacock

I do my photography workshops here. I have walked these grounds in every season. And I still feel a small, embarrassing flutter every single time I turn the corner and see the abbey for the first time.

Lacock is the most beautiful village in England. I will accept no challenges on this. The entire village is owned by the National Trust — every cottage, every lane, every honey-stone wall — which means it looks exactly as it has for centuries, because nobody has been allowed to put a UPVC window in. It has been used as a film location so many times it basically has a greater screen presence than most working actors: Pride and Prejudice (the BBC version, the only one), Downton Abbey, Cranford, the Harry Potter films, Wolf Hall. On a quiet morning in spring, before the day-trippers arrive, it is so perfectly pretty you'll wonder if it's real.

The abbey grounds are exceptional for picnics. The orchard — National Trust confirmed this themselves — is the spot. Ancient apple trees, dappled light, complete seclusion from the day-trippers in the village. There are also picnic benches in the Pound by the play area in the village if you'd rather be in the thick of things.

As a National Trust member, this one is essentially free for you. Which makes it feel even more indulgent.

Practical details:

• Parking: National Trust pay and display car park (free for members — scan your card). Non-members: £5 per day. Postcode: SN15 2LG. Don't try to park in the village itself; the lanes are tiny and residents' only.

• Facilities: Stables Café in the village (light lunches, cakes, hot drinks). Courtyard Tea Room in the abbey grounds. Toilets at the abbey and in the village. Full facilities including baby-changing. Accessible throughout most of the site.

• Nearest farm shop: The Lacock Village Shop & Deli is right in the village and brilliant for picnic provisions — homemade quiches, Scotch eggs, salads, and local produce. Lacock Bakery is also there for fresh bread. Hartley Farm Shop at Winsley is about 5 miles north for a fuller farm shop experience.

• Best for: The most Instagrammable picnic in Wiltshire. Couples, families, photography enthusiasts, Jane Austen fans. National Trust members eat here essentially for free, which is genuinely one of the great joys of membership.

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5. Bradford on Avon Canal & Barton Farm Country Park

I walked this canal when we lived in Frome. The Avoncliff Aqueduct — the point where the Kennet & Avon Canal crosses the River Avon on a stone aqueduct John Rennie built in 1801 — stopped me dead every single time. It's one of those structures that makes you feel the particular satisfaction of something being exactly the right solution to a problem. "We need to get the canal over the river." "What if we just... built a stone bridge for the canal?" "Sir this is an aqueduct you can't just—" "BUILD IT."

Bradford on Avon itself is a town of exceptional beauty — steep hillsides, honey-coloured stone, a medieval tithe barn that will make you feel inadequate about your own architecture, and the Kennet & Avon Canal running right through the middle of it. Barton Farm Country Park sits at the northern edge of town and gives you immediate access to the towpath, the river, wildflower meadows, and historic farm buildings including a 14th-century granary and tithe barn.

The canal towpath walk towards Avoncliff is flat, wide, and genuinely one of the prettiest easy walks in southern England. Find your spot by the water — there are plenty of flat grassy banks — and settle in for the kind of afternoon that makes you feel very fortunate indeed.

Practical details:

• Parking: No parking within Barton Farm Country Park itself, but the Station car park in Bradford on Avon town centre (postcode BA15 1DQ) is a short walk away and has long-stay options. Alternatively, park at the town's main car park off St Margaret's Street.

• Facilities: Bradford on Avon has everything you need — cafés, pubs, a lovely deli, shops. The Lock Inn canalside pub is a classic stop. No facilities within the country park itself, but the town is a few minutes' walk.

• Nearest farm shop: Hartley Farm Shop & Kitchen at Winsley, about 2 miles from Bradford on Avon — local meat, seasonal produce, excellent deli. This is a brilliant stop before your canal walk. The Lock Inn also does picnic food.

• Best for: Easy flat walking, families with pushchairs (the towpath is wide and well-surfaced), anyone who wants water views. Exceptional in spring when the wildflowers are out.

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6. Castle Combe Village & Bybrook Valley

I came here a few years ago on a grey autumn afternoon and I've been recommending it to people ever since in that slightly evangelical way that can make you unpopular at dinner parties. I apologise for nothing.

Castle Combe is often called the prettiest village in England (yes, it's competing with Lacock; yes, they're both correct; no, I won't pick one). The Bybrook river runs through the centre of the village past a medieval market cross, 14th-century stone cottages, and a church that has been here since the 12th century. It is so absurdly pretty that it has been used as a film set for Doctor Dolittle, War Horse, and Downton Abbey. The village itself becomes magical in the moments before and after the day-trippers arrive — early morning or late afternoon is the move.

For picnics, the Bybrook Valley below the village is beautiful — flat meadows along the river, dappled shade, the sound of water over stones. Walk down from the village and you'll find your spot. The village itself is small — there isn't a formal designated picnic area — but the valley below is perfect, and the walk down takes about ten minutes.

Practical details:

• Parking: Visitor car park on Dunns Lane, just off the B4039 (postcode SN14 7HH). Pay and display. Approximately 80 spaces, fills quickly in summer — arrive early on weekends, or visit on a weekday. The village is notoriously hard to reach in peak season; Bank Holidays in particular are best avoided.

• Facilities: Public toilets near the village centre. The Castle Inn pub and The Manor House hotel (both beautiful) are your best bets for food and drink. There are occasional honesty boxes outside houses selling homemade cakes and jams — genuinely one of my favourite things about this village.

• Nearest farm shop: The Old Stables café in the village for coffee and light bites. For a full farm shop, head to Hartley Farm at Winsley (about 7 miles south-east) or try the deli in Bradford on Avon.

• Best for: Couples, architecture lovers, anyone who needs to feel briefly transported to a world where everything is made of warm Cotswold stone and nothing bad ever happens. Visit in spring or autumn for the best light.

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7. Stonehenge Landscape, Amesbury

I have never been inside Stonehenge. I know. I know. I drive past it approximately four times a year on the A303 and every single time I stare at it from the car with a feeling I can only describe as awe-adjacent. It's going on the list. This year. I'm putting it here in writing so you can hold me to it.

But here's something most people don't know: you don't have to buy a ticket to have an extraordinary picnic in the Stonehenge landscape. The National Trust land surrounding the stone circle is largely free open access. You can walk the ancient ridgeway paths, explore the wider World Heritage Site landscape — which includes Woodhenge, Durrington Walls, and numerous Neolithic long barrows — spread your blanket on chalk downland that has been walked by humans for five thousand years, and eat your lunch with Stonehenge visible on the horizon.

The monument field — the field immediately around the stones — has a designated picnic area with a view of the stone circle itself. This does require a ticket. But even from the free access landscape, the views are extraordinary. The big skies over Salisbury Plain. The hares running through the long grass. The skylarks — apparently one of the great bird-watching spots in the country, particularly April to July.

And when I finally go inside — which I will, I promise, this year — I will report back in full.

Practical details:

• Parking: Stonehenge Visitor Centre car park (postcode SP4 7DE). Free for English Heritage and National Trust members (display your membership sticker); parking charge of £4 for non-members, refundable against ticket purchase. Pre-book timed-entry tickets in advance — Stonehenge is one of the most visited sites in England and queues in peak season are significant. Additional free parking at nearby Woodhenge for landscape walkers.

• Facilities: Full visitor centre facilities — café, gift shop, toilets, exhibition, accessible throughout. Free shuttle to the stones (approximately 10 minutes). Picnic areas designated near the visitor centre and in the monument field. You can absolutely bring your own food.

• Nearest farm shop: Several good options near Amesbury — the town has a decent high street. For something special, Roves Farm Shop near Swindon stocks excellent local lamb, beef, and seasonal produce, and is en route from the north.

• Best for: Anyone who wants to feel the full weight of British prehistory. Combine with Avebury for an extraordinary day of ancient landscapes. Children who have studied the Stone Age at school will lose their minds completely, which is frankly the best review a place can get.

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8. The Kennet & Avon Canal at Pewsey Wharf, Vale of Pewsey

The Vale of Pewsey is Wiltshire's best-kept secret. The North Wessex Downs sweep down to a wide, flat vale — green fields, thatched villages, the Kennet & Avon Canal running through the middle of it all — with the white horses of Alton Barnes and Milk Hill cut into the chalk escarpment above. It is quietly, unselfconsciously beautiful in a way that doesn't try to impress you and therefore impresses you enormously.

Pewsey Wharf is a small, calm canalside spot with boats moored along the bank, ducks who have absolutely no concept of personal space, and a sense of complete remove from the modern world that is both instant and slightly startling. The towpath stretches east and west through countryside that feels genuinely ancient — the Vale has been farmed for thousands of years and it shows, in the best possible way.

This is also the spot to combine with Woodborough Garden Centre and PYO (pick your own) farm, about a mile away — strawberries, raspberries, and seasonal produce from March to October. Picking your own picnic ingredients and then eating them by the canal about forty minutes later is one of the most satisfying afternoon activities available to an adult in England.

Practical details:

• Parking: Pewsey Wharf car park is free and small — arrive early on summer weekends. The town of Pewsey (postcode SN9 5EP area) has additional parking. The train station (Pewsey) is also a good option if you're coming from further afield — the canal is walkable from the station.

• Facilities: The canal-side is basic — the beauty is the point. Pewsey town has shops, a pharmacy, and places to eat. The French Horn pub near Pewsey Wharf is a good pre/post picnic stop.

• Nearest farm shop: Woodborough Garden Centre & PYO, about a mile from the wharf — seasonal pick your own from spring to autumn, plus a farm shop. Also Helen Browning's Organic Farm at Bishopstone (about 10 miles) for outstanding organic meat and produce.

• Best for: Peaceful, unhurried afternoons. Canal lovers, nature lovers, anyone who wants to feel absolutely certain that the right call was bringing more cheese than they thought they needed. Glorious in June when the vale wildflowers are at their peak.

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Before You Go — The Wiltshire Picnic Checklist

A county this beautiful deserves a hamper this considered.

The Wiltshire edit:

• Bread: The Marlborough Bakery or any local baker — sourdough, specifically

• Cheese: Wiltshire has its own cheese! Find Wiltshire Loaf (the county's own rind-washed cheese) at a decent farm shop or deli

• Meat: Local lamb or beef from Eversfield Organic (Marlborough) or Hartley Farm (Winsley) — this is the county's landscape, eat it in it

• Something sweet: A Wiltshire Lardy Cake if you can find one — a traditional enriched bread made with lard, sugar, and currants that Castle Combe allegedly invented. Tastes much better than it sounds

• A flask: Because England, and because you're British, and because every good picnic begins with the question of whether the tea will still be hot

The One Rule

Come back on a weekday. Or a grey morning in October. Or an early June Tuesday when the chalk downland is flowering and you have the whole ridge to yourself.

Wiltshire at its most extraordinary is not the version you'll find on a Bank Holiday weekend with 400 other people trying to park at Castle Combe. It's the version at 9am on a Wednesday in September when the mist is sitting in the Vale of Pewsey and the stones at Avebury are catching the low light and you're the only person for half a mile in any direction.

That version is still out there, waiting. Take a blanket, take something good to eat, and take your time.

“The best picnic spots aren't the most famous ones. They're the ones you remember.”

Like this? The Somerset version — my home county — is over here: The Best Picnic Spots in Somerset

With love (and a rather good Wiltshire cheese board),

Gemma x

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