Detour #168: Horsing around Wessex, UK

Hackpen Hill’s horse

Simon Heptinstall takes a Detour-exclusive gallop between the nine Wessex white horses.

One overlooks the Great West Road, high above the glorious old A4 from London to Bath – a giant figure carved into the sides of an ancient hill fort looking down on an appealingly wide and largely empty trunk road.

Another looks north, its 3,000-year-old design like a giant cave painting on the crest of a grassy slope, a pretty winding country road far below.

One peeps between trees on the edge of a public school’s sports field, another forms a gigantic landmark at the battlefield where historians say England was born.

Yet another one is dainty, in a field where horses often graze. Nearby, one stands proudly upright, marking the steep slopes of Wiltshire’s highest point.

The nine Wessex White Horses are a bunch of mysterious giant figures cut into chalky hillsides across the sweeping landscapes of the North Wiltshire Downs between Salisbury and Swindon.

Eight are in Wiltshire, one is now officially just over the Oxfordshire border. There is a popular walking trail linking the horses – but no road trip route. Until now.

So I’ve drawn one up for you. It’s a Detour exclusive. The route is 100 miles long and I just tested it.

Now I feel like a chef who has concocted a delicious new combination of ingredients. This road trip is an absolute blast. It makes a brilliant day out – and there are no dull bits through cities or motorways at all.

The roads are mostly gorgeous, quiet, decent-sized country roads sweeping over wide-open downland and through unspoilt leafy valleys. They’re great to drive whether you’re hammering it in a hot convertible or pootling in a family MPV.

I was surprised to find that the sequence of spotting each white horse makes it a great project. I found myself getting really nerdy. Firstly, can you find it? Then, who spots it first? And how do you judge it compared to the last one?

Do you stay in the car and cruise past taking Insta shots through the windscreen… or stop at each one for a walk and a closer look.

It’s a circuit, so you can start and finish where you want. I began at Devizes for two reasons: firstly I thought the newest white horse, carved by 200 locals on Crown Estate land in 1999, would be the least interesting… and secondly because I live there.

I may be right about where I live… but I was wrong about the horse. It’s lovely, a classic shape cut from a grassy hillside high above the town that’s easy to drive to and park. The views are huge enough to make you sit down and stare.

The Millennium White Horse at Roundway

There’s plenty to think about while you’re there: the hill is the site of the Civil War Battle of Roundway where Cavalier cavalry defeated a larger force of Roundheads by driving them off the edge of this steep slope. Oh and the horse was designed by a local schoolboy and is now maintained by the town’s probation service.

Some pretty rural lanes wind south to Westbury where a huge white horse covers an area the size of half a football pitch on the steep slopes of Bratton Camp. It’s spectacular, both from 10 miles away or right up close. Reach it by clambering across the ramparts on the spot where King Alfred’s first-ever united English army defeated the Great Danish Army in 878.

Bratton Downs White Horse

Head east to a horse on a National Nature Reserve full of rare orchids high above the small market town of Pewsey. A few miles on the other side of the Kennet and Avon Canal is Alton Barnes White Horse on the slope of Milk Hill, Wiltshire’s highest point.

Another wonderful road leads up Oare Hill to the grand town of Marlborough. The extremely posh Marlborough College, Kate Middleton and Princess Eugenie’s secondary school, dominates the south side of town. Find the next white horse above their playing fields at the end of Granham Close.

Uffington, the most iconic of them all

The road trip now leads north across the Oxfordshire border to Uffington. This mysterious Bronze Age horse depiction is an image so strong its uses range from the logo of the local council to the cover of albums by XTC and Nirvana.

Park on the verge of the lane to dodge the National Trust’s pay-and-display car park, the only parking fee on the whole road trip.

Return south via Wroughton and probably the best stretch of driving road on the whole trip, swooping over rolling hills to two smaller but charming horses at Broad Town and Hackpen.

The finale is one of the best: Cherhill stands on a towering green cliff alongside the A4, with a hill fort and a monumental Victorian obelisk.

At the foot of the hill you can choose whether to toast your completion of the White Horse Detour circuit at one of two pubs in the village, dependant on your mood. They’re appropriately named: the White Horse… and the Black Horse.

Words Simon Heptinstall Twitter | Instagram
Photography Shutterstock

Cherhill White Horse

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ROADBOOK

CLASS: Horsing around

NAME: White Horse drive

ROUTE: Roundway White Horse to Roundway White Horse

COUNTRY: UK

DISTANCE: 104 miles

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