Just a couple of miles from our house there is an extremely old and large chalk horse carved into the tallest hillside in the shire. Named the Uffington White Horse, it was created by the celts sometime around 800 B.C. and looks down into a large plain of rolling hills and patchy forests.
We had passed the sign several times as we drove up to RAF Croughton, so we decided to take an early evening stroll after dinner (the sun didn't set until around 9 when we first arrived).
We drove through a couple of tiny villages until we reached the parking lot halfway up the hill. We then strolled through grassy sheep pastures to the top. As it is the highest point around, it was very windy on top, but luckily the sun was shining.
The tall hill was once used as a bronze-age fort and still retained a large 10 foot ditch around the perimeter of the hill top.
We walked right alongside the chalk horse and looked at it's construction. It was only a few feet wide and a shallow indentation in the grassy slope. Pieces of crumbled chalk filled the shape.
Apparently, without upkeep the grass around the chalk figure grows and covers the horse. Every 7 years for as long as people remember, the local villagers had a party to scour the hill and cut back the grass to keep it visible.
We walked down the steep hill and crossed a road with bikers struggling to get up the hill. We then climbed a smaller, out of place hill in the valley with a plateau. It was called Dragon hill and was some sort of naturally formed hill from the ice age. The views were good here too.
We had a wonderful time enjoying the sweeping views and marveling at why those ancient peoples made this chalk figure here. What a beautiful day!
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