Crop Circles (Silent Circle Cafe)
 

Lets say you have picked up your hire vehicle from Heathrow airport and found your way onto the M4 West heading for Bristol / Wales after a couple of hours traveling at 70 mph (120 km) you will come into the County of Wiltshire. You do have a choice of junctions to turn off and get onto the A4 (junctions 14,15,16 and 17). Just to bring you up to speed the A4 runs parallel with the M4 on the southern side (If you have spent your life in the Southern Hemisphere you will probably find your magnetic field is out of whack and you don't know North from South) so the A4 is on your left as you drive towards Bristol.

I came off at junction 17 and accessed the A4 at Chippenham only because my informants told me that by coming this way I would get an outstanding view of the White Horse and the Monument which would appear on the Calne to Marlborough stretch of the A4. (see photo to the right)

These man made features would appear on my right hand side at a place called Labour in Vain Hill

So what's this got to do with Crop Circles I hear you say, plenty!

Wiltshire is the capital of Crop Circles since my last visit one of  the doyen of Crop Circle enthusiants has resurrected his cafe for the benefit of informing tourists and seekers alike of where the current crop circles have appeared.

Named The Silent Circle Cafe it has been set up in a previously disused burnt out road side petrol station, which gives it excellent off street car parking, toilets as well as a place to get something to eat and an opportunity to sit inside or outdoors.

In the photo above (left) if you head to the right hand corner (see photo to the right) you will come across a map of the country side which the owners of The Silent Circle Cafe have been very gracious in placing pins to reveal where crop circles have been spotted also in the corner is a computer that users can access the silentcircle.co.uk web site. It has a feature that allows seekers out in the country side to instanteously report new sightings before the farmers even know they have one. (I thought that was brilliant after coming all this way from Australia it gives you that internal confirmation that you are going to see one, how goods that.)

You can ring ahead to see if the cafe is open on 01249 817348

When you venture outside have a look behind the The Silent Circle Cafe you will notice that there is a path that leads up to the White Horse and the Monument, this path is provided by the Wiltshire Walking and Cycling (Ring their hotline on 01980 623 255 for a White Horse Trail Pack)

The photo above left looks over the 2006 summer wheat field and shows the White Horse (above middle) known as the Cherhill Downs White Horse constructed in 1780 under the auspices of Dr Alsop of Calne, the horse is 40 metres long and 43 metres high, for the record the horses eye is 4 metres across  and was originally filled with upturned bottles so it glittered in the sun, (pretty smart) as for the Lansdowne Monument (above right) it was built in 1845 by the 3rd Marquis of Lansdowne to commemorate his ancestor Sir William Petty (who was prime minister under King George the 3rd) designed by Sir Charles Barry (co architect with Pugin of the Houses of Parliament) the monument stands 38 metres tall. If you double click the photos will open up.