A small village with much to offer
Village activities
- Extensive walks (Wootton Rivers is on the Mid Wilts Way)
- Cycling - the National Cycle Route 4 passes through the village
- Sixteenth Century village inn
- Liesel Craven Beauty Therapist
- Book-making courses - www.abookinaday.co.uk
- Singing Lessons with Trish!
- Field sports - available locally
Further afield
Places within easy reach include the historic market town of Marlborough, the ancient sites of Stonehenge and Avebury, the Neolithic mound of Silbury Hill, Savernake Forest, Hungerford (well known for its antique shops), Salisbury with its famous cathedral, Bath, the university city of Oxford, Newbury (Race Course) and the Cotswolds.
Also nearby is Devizes, a thriving market town and home to Wadworth Brewery with a visitor centre and brewery tours. It is also home to the famous flight of 29 locks at Caen Hill.
Other local activities and events
- Guided walks with Wiltshire Walks
- Golf - there are several superb nearby courses
- Horse riding - at Pewsey Vale Riding Centre
- Marlborough International Jazz Festival (normally second weekend in July - see the festival website for details)
- Marlborough Summer School (July/August - more information here)
- Pewsey Carnival - Wiltshire's oldest carnival, in September
- Devizes to Westminster Canoe Race (Easter Weekend)
- Crofton Beam Engines (more information) and Wilton Windmill
Eating out
The Royal Oak, Wootton Rivers is a well known Pub/Restaurant with an extensive menu. It is ideal for evening meals being just a few yards from The Finches. There is a variety of restaurants and characterful inns in Marlborough and the locality - details of which are available in guest bedrooms.
Your kindness was a joy to two tired cyclists with wounded bicycle.
Alison, NSW, Australia.
Silbury Hill is 130 feet high and the largest pre-industrial man-made mound in Europe
Thank you for taking care of us. We enjoyed our stay so much.
Jeanine and Roel, Netherlands
A walk around Wootton Rivers:
traditional handmade wooden fingerpost
Wootton Rivers village with Martinsell Iron Age hillfort behind
tranquil main street
Kennet and Avon canal running through the village
St Andrew's Church (14th century origins)
church clock made from scrap metal in 1911 by Jack Spratt
The Royal Oak, 16th century freehouse
footpath heading east directly from The Finches
graffiti at Wootton House ("TH 1780")
trees within the boundary of Martinsell hillfort
Green Man on Mud Lane (origin a mystery!)
view from Martinsell towards the village
Ordnance Survey map:
More about Wootton Rivers
The name "Wootton" is Saxon meaning "farm by the wood". "Rivers" was derived from the family name of the lords of the manor in the thirteenth century and was added later. The village is mentioned in the Domesday Book of 1086, and the population at that time was very similar to what it is today.
By the middle of the sixteenth century the Seymour family (linked so famously with Henry VIII) had gained ownership of much of the village, but by 1692 St. John's College, Cambridge had acquired the manorial title.
The college controlled much of the village until the twentieth century, when many of the houses were sold into private ownership. For a time in the nineteenth century the village was an important staging post on the Kennet and Avon Canal and between 1928 and 1964 had its own railway stop on the West Country line. Today many visitors come to Wootton Rivers to enjoy its peace and tranquility, and to walk along the canal and the historic trackways that spread from the village in all directions.
Lovely experience - many thanks.
Pam and Vic, Peel, IOM
