Avebury's stone circles lie within half an hour's drive of MarlboroughVISITORS basing themselves in Marlborough and Pewsey find themselves surrounded by so much history and so many places to visit that it's hard to know where to start.

A good place is the Marlborough town centre with its famous wide High Street that some claim is the widest in England.

Twice a week, on Wednesdays and Saturdays, the market meets in the centre of the High Street where once stood The Shambles, a row of shops and semi permanent buildings, rebuilt after the Great Fire of 1653 but pulled down in 1812.

The High Street has many alleyways that are worth exploring.

A stroll up Chandlers Yard behind the White Horse Bookshop will show how it's possible to shake hands from the upstairs windows of the medieval buildings on either side.

The River Kennet is one of Marlborough's greatest assets. The famous trout stream runs through the middle of the town just south of the High Street and once boasted a number of mills that helped create the town's wealth.

In Pewsey a visit to the Heritage Centre just off the High Street in Whatley's Yard is a must and packed with items from the Pewsey Vale's largely agricultural past.

Pewsey Wharf with its Boatman's tea rooms and restaurant and Waterfront bar is well worth a visit. The wharf provides a magnificent view of Martinsell Hill, towering over the northern edge of Salisbury Plain.

The Kennet and Avon Canal, in its heyday the equivalent of today's M4 as it carried goods between the east and west, runs just a few miles south of Marlborough and had wharfs at Burbage and Pewsey. Today the restored waterway is a linear park stretching from Bristol to Reading with a variety of recreational uses from angling to cruising.

A short drive to the west of Pewsey takes you to the Barge Inn at Honeystreet, beside the Kennet and Avon Canal, tucked away behind the Honeystreet Sawmills where a variety of timber products can be found.

Tourism has always been one of the greatest sources of income for Marlborough, from centuries past when its many inns catered for travellers on the London to Bristol and Bath routes.

Savernake Forest is freely open to the public and visitors are encouraged to enjoy the woods on foot.

Avebury's enigmatic stone circles lie just to the west of Marlborough, with Silbury Hill standing sentinel over the World Heritage Site.

Stonehenge and the less famous Woodhenge near Amesbury are only a half an hour's ride away from Marlborough and less from Pewsey.