A guide to the events taking place across the Stonehenge and Avebury World Heritage Site in September.
At Avebury
- On Thursday 5 September at 7pm, the Chapel in Avebury will host a talk on the Fungi of Avebury with Fred Gillam who is widely recognised as an expert mycologist. Entrance is free and refreshments are available.
- From 6 September to 20 October, The National Trust in Avebury will be hosting its Annual Sculpture Exhibition with over 100 unique sculptures set within the tranquil and beautiful surroundings of Avebury Manor Garden. Visitors will be able to enjoy a wide range of art, from carved limestone figures and shapes, to natural kinetic sculptures and a range of stained glass and bronze sculptures in different styles. On Thursdays throughout the exhibition, exhibiting artists will be giving live demonstrations of their work and answering questions. All sculptures in the exhibition are for sale.
- On Friday 13 September, The National Trust is hosting a Landscape walk around the Waden Hill circuit which takes in Avebury’s ancient and intriguing landscape. The walks are guided by expert National Trust volunteers who will explain the history of the landscape to visitors as they walk. Booking is essential.
At Stonehenge
- Between Friday 27 and Sunday 29 September, English Heritage will be hosting The Grand Stonehenge Dahlia Show. This is a revival of the historic Stonehenge dahlia shows which took place from 1842 to 1845 drawing crowds of up to 10,000 flower enthusiasts. Visitors to Stonehenge Dahlia Show will have the opportunity to enjoy expertly crafted floral displays, experience a dahlia meadow, and enjoy the sounds of the Shrewton Silver Band. Entry is part of general admission.
- Wiltshire Museum will be hosting one of it’s popular ‘outings’ to the Stonehenge landscape on Wednesday 18 September. The afternoon walk from Durrington Walls to Stonehenge will be led by Museum Director, David Dawson. Pre-booking essential with limited places.
Nearby
- Between 7-8 September, The Great Bustard Group will be holding an Open Day at Enford Village Hall (SN9 6DD). During the weekend the group will offer talks and guided tours to see the Great Bustards. Tickets for the guided tours are limited and can be purchased online.
- On Thursday 12 September, The Salisbury Museum will host an evening lecture by art historian, Sara Radice on Landscape, Man & Memory. This lecture will examine man’s physical and spiritual encounters with nature and explore art in connection with time and place. Booking required.
- On September 14, Wiltshire Museum will be hosting a special Museum tour as part of the National Heritage Open Day Festival. Booking required.
- From Wednesday 18 September to Wednesday 23 October, The Salisbury Museum is running a 6 week course on Beliefs, Monuments and Landscapes: A Sense of Place. The course will explore values and activities in the landscape that reach beyond the simply economic and which relate to culture, aesthetics and religion with specific reference to the British Isles. Pre-booking essential.
- From 14 September to 1 December, The Salisbury Museum is holding an exhibition by local artist David Ward entitled The Skylark and the Stones. which brings together one of our most celebrated birds and Neolithic flint tools from the Salisbury Museum collection. The works will be displayed in the Wessex Gallery and the smaller temporary exhibition gallery on the first floor of the museum. Normal admission charges apply.
Dates for your diary
- On 24 October, The Salisbury Museum will be holding an Autumn fundraising lecture entitled From the Neolithic to the Novichok Attack, presented by historian Tom Holland. The event will be held at Salisbury Methodist Church. Tickets can be booked online.
- The National Trust in Avebury will be hosting its annual Apple weekend celebrations 26-27 October, to celebrate the apple harvest. Visitors can pay homage to the apple, with apple tastings, apple pressing and children’s activities in the Avebury Manor Garden Orchard. This event is free, but normal admission charges apply for the venue.
- From Saturday 26 October to Sunday 3 November, visitors will be able to visit a pop-up planetarium at Stonehenge as part English Heritage’s programme of activities, Moonlight and Monoliths, which marks the special astronomical event taking place in 2024 called the Major Lunar Standstill. Normal admission charges apply.
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