The Rollright Stones

How is a bunch of stones stuck in the middle of a field interesting to children?  I guess that depends on how you sell it to them and how old they are. My children are OBSESSED with Minecraft and so from beginning to end this trip was filled with statements like "We could built a temple when we get home - the villagers need somewhere to pray" and "We could do Parkour on the stones" (I drew a line at this). 

My son counted the stones and we sat in the middle of the henge and talked about what they could've been used for. Yesterday we saw a sundial at Blenheim so my children are familiar with the concept of using the sun to tell the time, and they know that the earth's passage around the sun causes the seasons.

My daughter decided to record the henge on an old camera, providing a commentary, a la Stampy and Squid, and pretending to interview archaeologists. She knows that Stone Henge was built at the same time as the Egyptian Pyramids - it was nice to show her that people have always been building things and that we have monuments as old in out little country.

So, how do you get there? The National Heritage site is really not helpful on this. It says they are in 'Little Rollright' but that's not quite true. Little Rollright is a tiny little hamlet in a field, which you have to drive over a cattle grid to get to. You will see that the village is on the left of a little unnamed road. Continue north until you get to the junction. Again, if you zoom in you will see that on the second field on your right there is a little lighter green circle. This is the henge. Turn right at this junction and park in the layby. 

Find the stones on the google map I made for you. 

So, why would you even visit? I guess it depends what you're interested in and how much time you have. I wanted to do a reccy because husband decided after our trip yesterday he wants to go to a Falconry centre - there is one 2 miles away near Moreton in the Marsh. My children did what they always do - ran around pretending and not complaining. This counts as a result in my book!

There is a Fairy Tale farm near Chipping Norton, which we drove passed. This is on the A44 - the same road you take to go to Blenheim. It caters for children with wheelchairs and the owners market the sensory experiences on offer. 

Also there is a Children's Farm and Waterfowl Sanctuary neat Banbury. 

These places will take less than 50 mins to get to. 

Gorgeous view! 

One of the three groups of stones. 

These stones have been repositioned. They were thought to have been arranged about 5,000 years old. 

We went to Little Rollright Church. It is about 800 years old and smells more of 'old church' than practically any other church we've visited, and we've seen quite a few. There is a spectacular tomb, carved for what appears to be a knight. I wonder who it was? The inscription is too faded but it must've been someone of some importance. 

If you were to have visited this church today you would have heard my 5 year old deliver a sermon on the importance of giving children chocolate every single day. Church is an extremely serious business.