Hidden Wiltshire

from above and below, from near and far

Canal Rage and Crooners (From Wootton Rivers to Savernake Forest by Canal and Rail)

The first leg of this walk takes in the canal towpath and then turns north to return to Wootton Rivers via the Savernake Forest, somewhere I have long intended to explore but somehow never have. As ever my route took in a church.

Little Bedwyn to Hungerford by Canal – Crossing Borders

This is the second in my series of walks along and around the Kennet & Avon Canal, and another of our occasional cross border raids – this time into Berkshire.

Coombe Bissett, Great Yews and Homington

A visit to the lovely villages of Coombe Bissett and Homington. Taking in the ancient, dark and mysterious Great Yews and encountering not one but two Anubis. All whilst enjoying the ancient landscape and natural beauty of Coombe Bissett and Homington Downs with the River Ebble running through the Coombe and under the pack horse bridge at Coombe Bissett.

Wolfhall and Wiltshire’s Transport Heritage

I love ambling along canal towpaths. Whilst I also love walking in the hills it’s nice to do a less challenging walk from time to time and of course canal towpaths are completely flat. And as a photographer canals are the perfect place to find a blaze of colour and intriguing vignettes. I also find the industrial history fascinating and it was a pleasant surprise to find some railway history on this route too. But the icing on the cake was to discover an even older historical

The Art Inspiring Beauty of the Winterslows and beyond

Artists old and new are associated with the area around the settlements of East, West and Middle Winterslow. It has been their inspiration and now on a recent visit I can see why.

Completing the Shire Rack and escaping reality (well almost)

An escapist quest to walk along the length of the Shire Rack the ancient boundary that exists between Wiltshire and Dorset. A mystical area of the Cranborne Chase National Landscape where creatures and heroes of myths and legends must surely still exist.

Chasing Romans

For this day of splendid isolation I returned to the Deverills, not so very far from the border with Dorset

A Wiltshire Hedge Layer

When was the last time you saw a hedge that had been layed? A rare sight I would suggest. An ever rarer sight is a hedge layer

A Prehistoric Metropolis on Salisbury Plain

The glory of the Plain is that in areas that are not red flagged the walker is free to roam anywhere other than woodland

Wilton, the lost capital.

Wilton is the lost capital of Wessex Beloved by kings, its welcoming atmosphere hides its incredible history and true essence.

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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.