Campervan Days Out: So how was your Christmas day? I hope you had a good one and got to eat some lovely, nourishing winter food. I love the Christmas roast and we often pop out for turkey carverys throughout the year as well.
This year my partner, Glyn, and I stayed at home for Christmas day in our cosy little cottage and will do our visiting in the Twixmas time and New Year. However, we continued our Christmas day tradition of having a walk around Avebury stone circle before going home for lunch even though it was a bit wet.
We always end our walk at The Red Lion Inn to sit in front of the log fire and have a mulled cider to thaw out. We have even done this when it was all covered in snow! Strangely modern man has built two roads through this stone circle which intersect in the middle and it is at this junction that you’ll find the Red Lion Inn. The Red Lion is very popular in summer when people from all over the world come to visit the stone circles or the crop circles that always seem to pop up in the fields around them. But on Christmas day it is still lively and looks lovely with candles and the open fire.
As you can imagine, the Red Lion is very old (the building dates back to the 1600s) and has seen a lot of history. It is even said to be haunted! Ghostly visitors include a spooky, horse-drawn carriage which has been seen drawing up outside the pub but the most famous ghost at the Red Lion is a lady known as Florrie. Florrie’s husband was a soldier who went off to fight in the English Civil War (Royalists vs Roundheads), and while he was gone she took a lover. One night her husband returned unexpectedly and discovered his wife with the other man. In a fit of rage he shot the lover and stabbed poor Florrie before throwing her body down the well and sealing it with a boulder. Her ghost has been seen emerging and disappearing into the well which is situated in the bar area and she is said to throw salt and pepper mills across the bar. It is also believed to be Florrie’s spirit that has been witnessed several times in the ladies’ toilets.
I don’t know about the ghostly inhabitants but I’ve found the living humans that work there to be friendly and the Inn has a nice, laid-back atmosphere. So, if you are ever camping in Wiltshire, it’s definitely worth a visit as the food is as good as the atmosphere.
Postcode for satnav is SN8 1RF