Things to do
around Ashbury

Ashbury is a small downland village where the everyday and the very old sit close together. Within about two miles you'll find three places to visit, two spots to eat and drink, two services and one organised activity, which tells you something about the scale of things here: this is walking country first, with the chalk ridge rising behind the rooftops and long views opening the moment you leave the last cottage. Come for the prehistory, the big skies and the quiet lanes, and expect to spend more time outdoors than in.

A good few hours might start on foot, following the White Horse Hill to Ashdown Walk along the Ridgeway, where the track runs level and firm underfoot and the landscape does most of the work. Wayland's Smithy, a chambered long barrow in its ring of beech trees, is worth the short detour, and Alfred's Castle adds an Iron Age hillfort to the morning. If you'd rather something gentler, the planting at Parterre makes an easy contrast. Finish at The Rose & Crown Inn in the village, which is the natural place to sit down once the boots come off.