ENGLAND'S PRETTIEST VILLAGES

As well as its colourful cities and towns, the Great West Way is remarkable for its array of adorable villages. We hope you enjoy our selection here - and are able to take time to visit them in your journey

The Great West Way has an array of adorable villages. We hope you enjoy our selection and are able to take time to visit them in your journey

You'll find this National Trust village - a film set for Pride and Prejudice and Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince - just a few miles south of Chippenham. It's been so beautifully preserved that it feels like a living museum. Its medieval streets are lined with charming stone cottages, and there's a Tithe Barn and traditional bakery too. Stop and peer in the windows at 2 High Street. If you thought the UK's buzzing coffee culture was something new, think again! Although the old shop window now replicates a local store at the beginning of the 20thcentury, it was previously a busy coffee tavern. Other attractions in the village include Lacock Abbey and the Fox Talbot Museum - the birthplace of photography.

Cookham, Cookham Rise and Cookham Dean are referred to locally as ‘The Cookhams'. Although Kenneth Grahame's children's classic, The Wind in the Willows, was mainly a product of the author's imagination, the sleepy riverside village of Cookham Dean, where he lived as a boy, may well have inspired him. (Try the National Trust's 3-mile Wind in the Willows walk.) In fact these wellheeled Berkshire villages by The Thames have attracted plenty of creative residents over the years, including artist Sir Stanley Spencer and actress Jessica Brown Findlay - Lady Sybil Crawley in Downton Abbey.

Museums, 16th century manor houses, megalithic stone circles, some villages have it all. As home to the largest stone circle in the world, some of Avebury village lies within the stones. Go on one of the National Trust's regular guided tours to find out more about all the strange sarsens and burial mounds around you.

Make sure you check out Avebury Manor, too, and the Alexander Keiller Museum, which shines a light on the many archaeological finds from the area. Follow up with a cream tea in one of the cafés, and maybe even stay the night in a cosy B&B so you can capture that misty, mysterious morning view on camera.

Pewsey is the perfect place to base yourself when exploring the ancient landscape of the Great West Way. The characterful village even has its own chalky White Horse, just a mile or so south of the village. It's also an excellent launchpad for some great walks, (visitpewseyvale. co.uk/things-to-do) as well as bike rides along the Kennet & Avon Canal.

But don't be fooled into thinking it's all sleepy and rural here - the Pewsey Vale is known for its Carnival every September and top country pubs, many offering accommodation.