Sorry if this post sounds a little negative nancy (poor nancy, always gettin’ picked on), but I only want to… lower your expectations so you have a better experience.
It’s meant to be nothing more than how I honestly felt. Stonehenge was, how you say… anticlimactic.
As you drive over the hill toward the heritage site and see it below, you think… and I quote “WOW, cool.” There, at a distance, stands stonehenge; it’s awe inspiring, mystical even. You park, pay (for us it was free b/c we were English Heritage members), walk in, and think… “Wow, I paid to get in!?!? They saw tourist written all over this face!” (Again, we didn’t pay, it was free.)
Here’s the thing; there’s a price in your head you think is fair, and a price in your head you expect it to be (even more) as a tourist attraction, and then there’s a price where you feel a bit ripped off (ouch). This was not an ouch for us, because again, it was free. If it wasn’t free where the ouch happens is in the conversion from pounds to dollars. When we went the exchange rate (ugh! I know, bare with me here) was 1.85. So the 17 pound price tag is actually $31.45. OUCH. Add a significant other, and that’s $60. It adds up fast.
And here’s the thing, you can’t go right up to the stones, you walk in a circle around the site on a corded off pathway about 25-50 meters away from the actual stones. Which in all honesty, was not as breathtaking as the view coming over the hill. I didn’t even take that many pictures (about 5) because they all look the same.
BUT… You should STILL GO…
Here’s why, it’s Stonehenge. It’s cool. It’s a once in a lifetime thing. I still think it’s something people should go see if they’re in the area (I still would). BUT, if you’re on a budget, pull over to the side of the road, look, and skip going in (there were actually a lot of people who did this). Another way to budget is bring a cooler, pack a picnic, eat on a blanket, or tailgate. Or just a 40 min drive away is Avebury, the largest stone circle in Britain that you can actually walk up close to.
