A tour guide who specialises in driving US tourists around some of the UK’s most popular sights – including Stonehenge, the Cotswolds and Glastonbury – says there’s one ‘secret’ must-see destination that most people still don’t know about.
Earlier this week, Matthias Kurth, who runs Galahad Tours from his base in Bristol, told the Scott Mills Breakfast Show that visitors often miss out on experiencing one of Britain’s most spectacular Neolithic landscapes – because they’re fixated with joing the tourist hoardes visiting Stonehenge.
Matthias, who calls himself ‘the best private driver guide in the South West’, says he’s astonished more people don’t visit it, saying: ‘Incredibly, there is still the odd hidden secret out there. It’s a magical place and, guess what, you’ll have it to yourself.’
He added: ‘It’s miles better than Stonehenge’, saying his recommendation, a UNESCO World Heritage site, is ‘much, much bigger’ than the Salisbury attraction and blissfully free of the ‘millions and millions of people’ that its inundated with year-round.
The tour guide, whose customers are often Americans too nervous to drive on English country roads, told MailOnline: ‘Avebury Stone Circle is part of the same Stone Age landscape in Wiltshire as Stonehenge.
‘It’s the world’s largest Stone Circle by circumference and you can still walk right up to the giant stones and touch them.
‘It gets a fraction of the visitor numbers and outside of school holidays and solstices you might be surrounded by grazing sheep.’
He says he’d always recommend that people still visit Stonehenge ‘because it is unique and the world’s most famous Stone Circle for several reasons’.
Award-winning tour guide Matthias Kurth, from Bristol, runs privately guided day tours from Bath in a luxury vehicle – and says there’s one destination that’s – so far – free of selfie-stick wielding tourists
Matthias with tourists at Avebury stone circle, which lies around 40 minutes’ north by car of Stonehenge. He says people are missing a trick by not adding Avebury to their UK tourism travel wish-list
Magical place: At certain times of the year, Matthias says you’re more likely to meet a sheep than you are a fellow human at Avebury
In the most recent UK tourist figures, visitor numbers for Stonehenge topped 1.3million in 2023, accounting for 36 per cent of the tourism pie.
Current entry via tickets booked online cost £22.70 for adults and £13.60 for children aged five to 17.
Meanwhile, visitor figures to Avebury’s 4,000-year-old enigma, a 40-minute drive north, aren’t generally recorded…because it’s a free attraction.
The stones used in the outer stone circle at Avebury – with two smaller rings on the inside – are thought to be the heaviest in Britain, weighing in at least 100 tonnes each.
The stones are, according to the National Trust, locally sourced hard grey sandstone known as ‘sarsen’.
The National Trust, which also oversees the museum, 16th Century manor house and garden on the site, estimates there’s around 300,000 visitors annually to the attraction.
Local farmer Alice Hues, who runs Galteemore Farm, some of the oldest farmed land in Europe, with her husband Rob and rents out her luxury self-catering cottages, The Farm at Avebury to tourists, agrees wholeheartedly with Matthias.
In a recent blog, Hues wrote: ‘Unlike its famous cousin, Stonehenge – where you need to book ahead, pay a hefty ticket fee, follow a designated path, and admire the stones from a respectful distance, Avebury’s sprawling stone circle lets you roam freely, touch the megaliths, and maybe even feel the vibes of ancient druids (or just a brisk Wiltshire wind).’
Tourists heading to Avebury can wander freely around the stones, some of which weigh around 100 tonnes, making them the heaviest in Britain
Local farmer Alice Hues, pictured, says those who stay in the luxury self-catering cottages she runs on some of the world’s oldest farmland in Avebury love the fact you can touch the megaliths – without crowds or paying to see them
The West Kennet Long Barrow is part of the Avebury Neolithic complex in Wiltshire. It is one of the largest and most impressive burial sites in Britain
Drone footage showing the stone circle at Avebury and Alice and Rob Hues’ farm. Right: The Farm at Avebury accommodation, where self-catering stays start from just £104 per night
She tells MailOnline for anyone keen to delve into Britain’s Neolithic and Bronze Age history, it’s heaven sent: ‘Avebury isn’t just a stone circle – it’s an entire prehistoric landscape, one of the most extraordinary and immersive Neolithic sites in the world.
‘Unlike its famous neighbor, Stonehenge, Avebury remains wonderfully off the beaten track, allowing visitors to explore its ancient wonders in peace, particularly in the quieter months.
She adds that Avebury ‘is just one part of a vast ritual landscape’.
Alice says: ‘Silbury Hill, the largest prehistoric mound in Europe, looms nearby, its purpose still a mystery.
‘And West Kennet Long Barrow, one of the best-preserved Neolithic burial chambers in Britain, invites visitors to step inside and experience the atmosphere of a 5,600-year-old tomb.’
