Hidden Wiltshire

from above and below, from near and far

West of Westwood – Three Counties Walk

For the purists amongst you, you might want to look away as this walk spends much of its time outside of Wiltshire. But it starts and finishes in our county and for part of the time crosses countryside where the borders were frequently moved, such that places found themselves changing county over the years. But to help you make your decision whether to continue reading we will be visiting Somerset, and Bath and North East Somerset as well as Wiltshire.

Cowper's Cross, Tragic Washern and Netherhampton

This is a wonderful and diverse walk with lots of interest and varied history across the ages. It explores the village of Netherhampton and its famous hoard, Salisbury Racecourse and the lost tragic village of Washern.

A Confusion of Bottoms

I’ve been meaning to explore the downs to the north of Mere for years. The many folds in the landscape caused by man’s presence over millennia combined with the forces of nature make this an enticing landscape. And on the day we visited, the low autumn sun on a bright clear day just served to highlight the profile of the countless earthworks, ditches and ripples even more.

Langley Wood: The New Forest in Wiltshire

I very nearly didn’t write this blog for reasons that will become apparent. I’ve long intended to visit the New Forest in autumn but since it is mostly in Hampshire my commitment to writing for Hidden Wiltshire meant it was always on the back burner. But then it dawned on me that part of the forest does just creep into Wiltshire.

There and back again in the beautiful Woodford and Bourne Valleys

Just like Tolkien's hobbit, I have been on a journey. A discovery of belonging and an increase in my desire to ensure accessibility and maintenance of the Wiltshire public rights of way. For it is only when walking them do you see the true beauty of the area and find a deep connection to the place.

The Smallest Village in Wiltshire?

Looking for inspiration my walking buddy and neighbour Stu mentioned a walk he’d seen in Country Walking Magazine. The starting point was the village of Giddeahall, a place neither of us had heard of. Having studied the map we knew exactly where it was but neither of us could remember seeing a village, despite having driven past many times. We recalled seeing a pub at the side of the A420 west of Chippenham but nothing else. Intrigued we set off on a bright, fresh September m

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About

Hidden Wiltshire is an ongoing project to explore the county of Wiltshire, uncovering its richness and beauty and sharing this with fellow travellers.

It is all about finding the hidden places. Some of them may be known to locals, but most are not on the normal tourist trail.

We use good old fashioned writing to share information in the form of blog posts, punctuated by photography, the occasional video and a podcast.

Outside of the website we have an active social media presence, so if that is your thing, please click on the social links on the top bar to find us.

How did it all Begin?

Hidden Wiltshire is a project first conceived of in 2016. The Autumn colours in Biss Wood were outstanding that year, and the project founder, Glyn Coy, put his drone up and discovered a wonderful multi coloured vista that wasn't visible from the ground.

He shared the image on social media and it went viral, being seen all across the world. So he had an idea to look out for more hidden gems and started this website to record them.

We are all immensely proud to live in this ancient and beautiful county. In many ways all we capture with our photographs are moments in time. The landscape itself tells the story.

Site Navigation

The menu bar at the top provides some clues about what you can find here. All the blog posts can be viewed on this page. Pages numbers are listed at the bottom.

The Map page shows the location of all the posts on a map of Wiltshire, which can help you find something in a particular spot. There is also a Walks page for those of us who like a good stroll from time to time.

A Search option is on the top right of this page.

People

A lot of time and effort goes into creating the Hidden Wiltshire content, and we all volunteer our time for free.

The project was set up by Glyn Coy, but it has evolved into a mini community of contributors. Paul Timlett and Elaine Perkins provide a lot of the site content and help with project management. Others who have provided articles include Steve Dewey, Jon Grech, Fred Palmer, and Sara French.

Glyn is currently taking a break from Hidden Wiltshire, but Paul and Elaine are still actively updating the content.

Books and Online Shop

Although Hidden Wiltshire is run by volunteers there are some running costs to keep things going. So we occasionally sell Wiltshire themed items through the online shop, such as photographs and books.

We have self published two books so far, which are hardback and contain lots of photographs of Wiltshire. They can be bought through the online shop or in the real world, from Devizes Books or Wiltshire Museum.

Disclaimer

This website encourages people to get out there and explore Wiltshire for themselves. For the avoidance of doubt, all the walks follow established rights of way or open access land and do not involve trespassing.

While out there exploring yourself please follow the countryside code. Please don't stray on to private land without permission from the landowner.