Cheap Hotels in Wiltshire

A chalk plateau occupies about two-thirds of Wiltshire and includes the Marlborough Downs and Salisbury Plain. This rolling open countryside is ideal grazing land for sheep, and is bordered by lowlands to the northwest and southeast, and an area of clay to the west. South Wiltshire has been designated an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.

The remains of prehistoric people in the area are numerous, the most famous of which are the Neolithic stone monuments of Avebury and Stonehenge. Avebury is the largest Stone Age monument in the world, within which there were once 100 standing stones, and Stonehenge is the most important prehistoric structure in Europe, believed to have been in continuous use from about 3100 to 1100 BC. Bronze and Iron Age hill forts are scattered throughout the county, and Old Sarum, the first site of Salisbury, was originally a hill fort, modified in turn by the Romans, the Saxons, and the Normans. Wiltshire was the site of ferocious battles with the Danes, and under Norman rule it was purely used as an agricultural region. By the 14th century Cistercian monks had introduced sheep farming and as a result the county prospered greatly from the wool and cloth trade.

Wiltshire is still predominantly agricultural, and is steeped in history and attractions. Of note are Longleat House (home of the Marquess of Bath and the UK's first safari park), Wilton House (home of the Earl of Pembroke) Salisbury Cathedral, its spire the tallest in England, the Westbury White Horse (cut into the side of a limestone hill).