This winter's walk around the village of Chilmark and the Monarch's Way had a profound effect on me. Perhaps it was due to the history of the place, its wonderful views and the fact that the stone used in the building of Salisbury Cathedral was quarried from this place. The area is well worth a visit.

This is an area we’ve covered several times before at Hidden Wiltshire and you will find links to earlier blogs below. But I wanted to focus more on the natural landscape and the Ridgeway in this blog. For that reason this will be a slightly shorter blog as there were no churches or historic buildings to crawl over.

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.

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.