We are now in the Year of the Sheep, but just as the Year of the Horse galloped into the distance a new website was launched to help us explore the beauty of the White Horses within our Wessex landscape.
The website www.whitehorsewalk.co.uk developed from an original project initiated by Ali Pretty and Richard White, which began with a walk from the Wiltshire Museum to the Devizes Millennium White Horse and Roundway Down in May 2013. (You can join this new website here.)
Ali and Richard remained as artists in residence at the Wiltshire Museum in Devizes during that July and August. They led walks to each of the Wiltshire White Horses and created the exhibition Freedom on My Doorstep at the Museum.
The project also took in the oldest of them all, at Uffington. A small group of intrepid walkers explored that White Horse’s connections with Tom Brown’s Schooldays and John Betjeman during one of the wettest walks on record in January 2014.
The ‘digital ribbon’ for the launch of the website was cut by Richard White at the Wiltshire Museum earlier this month – which brought the project full circle back to Devizes.
Embracing social media, a flourishing Flickr gallery and working in partnership with Devizes Outdoor Celebratory Arts , the project has from beginning to end been a festival of colour and sound – walking and talking – history and pre-history – and has featured stunning art works by Ali Pretty and captivating ‘sound parks’ by Richard White.
The Wessex White Horse Walk is a 100 mile circular route from the Westbury White Horse to the oldest at Uffington. However, if your taste is more for a day out or short circular walk then look no further, the website has detailed routes for you and also free downloadable apps so that you can listen as you explore the landscape.
Walks include a gentle four mile circuit around the Marlborough White Horse starting and finishing in the High Street. Notes on accommodation, viewpoints of interest and local hostelries and tea-rooms are included in all the Day Walk itineraries.
The short circular walks and full details of the apps are here. For the more adventurous there are six fantastic day walks.
Walks three, four and five are all local to Marlborough.
So why not explore the website and then, as the better weather starts to lure us outside, take time to venture into the world of the White Horses and catch real glimpses of spring.
More information on Ali’s artwork and Richard’s ‘sound parks’, together with details of all the supporters and contributors to this epic project can be found on the project Back Story & Credits page.
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