A guide to the events taking place across the Stonehenge and Avebury World Heritage Site.
- The Summer Solstice will take place at sunrise on Friday 21 June. Visit English Heritage’s website here for details on Stonehenge’s managed open access. English Heritage will also provide a live stream of the Summer Solstice sunset (20 June) and sunrise (21June) on its digital channels. Visit the official Stonehenge or English Heritage Facebook page or the English Heritage YouTube channel.
- On Saturday 1 June, Wiltshire Museum will be hosting an afternoon lecture by Dr Fran Allfrey on Who Made Avebury? Exploring the 1930s-1940s diaries of William Young. In this talk, Dr Allfrey will be joined by Prue Saunders and Bev Stapleton, research volunteers for the Avebury Papers to discuss diaries written by William Young, who not only kept meticulous notes about excavations at Avebury from 1934 to 1940, but also wrote evocative memories of daily life across Wiltshire. Click here for more information and to book a ticket.
- On Saturday 1 June, Wiltshire Museum is providing visitors the opportunity to have a tour behind the scenes and get an overview of its collections with Director, David Dawson. Wiltshire Museum has Britain’s best Bronze Age archaeology collection featuring gold from the time of Stonehenge. Booking is required as numbers are limited. Further tours are planned on 6 July and 5 October.
- As part of its Summer of Play programme to get active and creative in June and throughout Summer, the National Trust in Avebury is providing equipment for visiting families to build their own fun and unique obstacle courses and challenge each other to complete it.
- Running until 1 September, The Wiltshire Museum has an exhibition entitled A Wiltshire Thatcher – a Photographic Journey through Victorian Wessex. This exhibition celebrates the work of Ernest Farmer, who today is little-know but was a leading figure in the development of photography as an art form. The exhibition features three views of Stonehenge from 1892.
- On Saturday 8 June, The Wiltshire Museum’s, Museum Explorers club for 5-7 year olds will enjoy enjoy activities linked to the Wiltshire Thatcher. Booking is required. Click here for more information.
- New for June onwards, The Salisbury Museum will be hosting Behind the Scenes Tours – an exclusive opportunity for visitors to explore what lies beyond its galleries and discover hidden treasures, untold stories and fascinating artefacts that are not on public display. Pre-booking essential. Book here.
- Running until Tuesday 4 June, visitors to Stonehenge will be able to help construct Playhenge– a new amazing adventure playground. This immersive, fun activity by English Heritage will allow children and accompanying adults to use tools and natural materials to help build a play structure of their imagination.
- On Tuesday 11 June, The RSPB South Wiltshire Local Group will be hosting its Members’ evening and AGM. Following the formalities of the AGM, Patrick Cashman and Nicky Quinn from RSPB Winterbourne Downs will share news from this fabulous local reserve.
- On Saturday 15 June, The National Trust is hosting a Landscape guided walk around the Waden Hill circuit, which takes in Silbury Hill and West Kennet Avenue. Booking is essential with another guided walk planned for 13 September.
- Join the National Trust on Sunday 23 June for the Trust10 trail run at Avebury. The free-to-attend10k trail run is held on the fourth Sunday of every month until October and gives participants the opportunity to enjoy a challenging run with stunning views across the wider Avebury landscape. Pre booking is not required, but runners are asked to register from 08.45 on the morning of the run.
- Join National Trust Rangers at the ancient hillfort of Figsbury Ring a Neolithic and Iron Age site near Salisbury on the evening of Friday 28 June for a Glow worm walk. This ticketed event includes an on- site presentation on glow worms and the opportunity to view a well-established population as they light up during nightfall (9.45pm-11pm).
- On Sunday 30 June from 2-5pm, RSPB South Wiltshire will be hosting an Open Garden within the WHS at Avon Cottage, Lower Woodford, SP4 6NQ. Avon Cottage, whose origins are in the 16th century, is set in two acres of wonderful gardens overlooking working water meadows alongside a chalk stream carrier of the River Avon. Entry £5 for adults, children free. No dogs.
Looking ahead
- From July the archives at the Wiltshire & Swindon History Centre in Chippenham will be open on the first Saturday of every month in addition to existing opening times of 9.30am to 5pm Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Fridays. Pre-booking is advised to ensure they can produce the documents you are looking for. Email archives@wiltshire.gov.uk
- On Wednesday 10 July at 1.30pm, The Chapel at Avebury will be hosting a talk by Dr Fran Allfrey (University of York) on the Avebury Papers Project, revealing the stories and searches it is undertaking to discover the people who made Avebury what it is today. The event is free to attend (donations welcome).
- The Salisbury Museum’s new history, ceramics and natural history galleries will host a grand opening on 13 July with a free celebration event. Entry will be free to all with an official ribbon cutting and placement of the last object in the Salisbury Gallery at 2pm.
- From Saturday 27 July to Sunday 28 July, The Salisbury Museum will be hosting its Festival of Archaeology 2024. This free-to-attend event will take over the museum and its garden with a packed showground alongside a demonstration marquee and talks. The WHS Coordination Unit will be taking part alongside other partners.
- During Wiltshire school holidays right up to November, the National Trust in Avebury will be running Family stone circle tours every Wednesday and Sunday at 11.30am and 1pm. Please note, there is limited capacity per tour and tickets are offered on a first come first served basis.
Enjoy at any time
Together, the Stonehenge and Avebury landscape forms one World Heritage Site celebrated for its Neolithic and Bronze age monuments spanning 5000 years of history. To plan to visit Stonehenge see English Heritage‘s website and to explore Avebury see National Trust‘s webpages.
The collections of The Salisbury Museum , Wiltshire Museum in Devizes and Alexander Keiller Museum in Avebury contain many treasures discovered from Stonehenge and Avebury, giving insight into the people who lived here thousands of years ago and how the monuments were constructed.
Discover monuments, encounter wildlife and enjoy beautiful views on one of the many walking routes through the World Heritage Site landscape. Here are just a few examples:
Stonehenge landscape circular walk | Wilts | National Trust
Secrets of Stonehenge walk | Wiltshire | National Trust