Silbury Hill

The moment you round the bend near Marlborough and catch sight of Silbury Hill rising from the Wiltshire plain, you understand why people have been obsessed with this place for nearly 5,000 years. It's a massive artificial mound - roughly the size of the Great Pyramid by volume - and it sits there in the middle of farmland like nothing quite explains it.

You can walk right up to it. The climb takes ten minutes if you're reasonably fit, though the slopes are steep enough to make you work for the view. From the top, the chalk downlands roll out in every direction, and on a clear day you can pick out other ancient sites dotting the landscape. There's something properly unsettling about standing on something built by people whose names we'll never know, for reasons we can only guess at.

It's free to access and worth stopping for if you're anywhere near Marlborough - say, half an hour to an hour total including the walk. The site itself is exposed, so choose your weather carefully; summer mornings are best before the midday heat makes the open hillside feel relentless. History enthusiasts will find this genuinely fascinating, though young kids might lose patience once they've climbed up and come back down again. For families camping at Ridgeway Campsite just two miles away, it's an easy leg-stretch that beats another trip to a visitor centre. Just watch the farmers' tracks when you're approaching - the right of way is clear, but it's working farmland.