Figsbury Ring

Figsbury Ring is an unusually designed hillfort on the chalk north of the A30 about four miles east of Salisbury, where an Iron Age outer rampart and ditch encircle a smaller inner bank and ditch thought to be Neolithic, some 2,000 years older. From the ramparts the views run across Salisbury Plain to Old Sarum and the spire of Salisbury Cathedral, with the fenced land of Porton Down immediately to the east. The banks shelter chalk grassland flowers, with fragrant orchids and the elusive frog orchid in late June, a notable colony of Adonis blue butterflies on the wing in May and August, and skylarks that nest in the long grass at the centre of the fort and sing from mid-spring to midsummer. Reviewers find it a peaceful place for a walk round the rings and a picnic, and are honest that there is little else there. Tips from visitors: the track from the main road to the car park is badly rutted and unsuitable for low cars, parking is free and ample once you arrive, cattle graze the fort in season, and the keep-out signs on the fences belong to the military land next door.