I've read through the past messages regarding the special access tour. Astral doesn't have the date listed that I need for May 22, 2004. I'm somewhat concerned about contacting English Heritage and trying to do the transportation on my own. I would like to have comments on how hard this is? Thanks, Virginia

cheuvront: Hmmm. I'll be there from May 25 - 29. It looks to me like they just haven't listed their dates after January. At least, that's what I'm counting on. It's still pretty far in advance to try to book this, I would assume. I'm not going to worry yet.

What I'm curious about is the crop circle tour. I hear they only do it at certain times of the year due to the crop's growth pattern. Any insight on this?

Crop circles are more common in late summer, when the grain has grown high. There would probably not be any crops to make the circles in, in winter and spring. We saw plenty on our Astral tour in early August 2001, though -- they made side trips as part of the Inner Circle tour, which lasted all day and ended with the Stonehenge inner circle access at sunset.

Because the inner-circle tours are held before and after the regular opening hours, the public bus from Salisbury might not run early (or late) enough to accommodate these tours. Stonehenge is near the highway, so it's easy to find if you rent a car and drive.

The staff at Astral were very friendly -- why not just e-mail them directly and ask about their scheduling plans?

The Astral Tours website has the 2004 dates up but May 22 is not listed-darn! That's the only day we will have available. I've also emailed The Stonehenge Tour co. and haven't heard back yet. I also emailed Astral about a customized private after hours tour, but I'm sure that will be way too expensive. I need to find out if the English Heritage provides any kind of guide if I get can private access through them. I really think it would be better to have a knowledgeable guide-not just looking at stones by ourselves! I guess if I can't get the private access tour then we'll just do a regular daytime tour.

I would be very surprised if EH granted inner-circle access after-hours without having a staff member right there to keep an eye on you, and to answer questions. They had a staff person in attendance for the duration of the Astral visit.

Last time I visited it, the EH web site was a pain in the neck to navigate but did yield up a contact for inner-circle appointments. Good luck!

Cheuvront, or anyone else who might know...
Any additional information on this? I, too am trying to go on a date Astral tours doesn't list on their site (5/28/04). The EH web site eludes to the possibility of being able to get access before or after hours w/o Astral. I would imagine, that there would definitely be an employee present. We *really* want to go, but there's also only one date we can make it.

Maybe others are interested on the same date creating a "group?" No? If yes, please let me know.

ttt? Anyone this morning?

The date I needed was not available for a group private access tour with Astral. I contacted them and arranged a private, private access tour. In other words, my family of three will be picked up at our hotel by the tour/guide and driven to Stonehenge for before hours access. We also included Avebury circle and Salisbury. You can customize to include other sites. Yes, it is very expensive but is a graduation present for our son. We worked out the plans over email and so far I have been very pleased with their customer service. Let me know if you have any other questions.

My understanding is that you can't really see crop circles that early in the year - the crops are not yet high enough for them to have put the circles/patterns in.

cheuvront: Thanks so much for getting back to me w/ this information. Could you possibly give me a hint as to what "very expensive" might be? My husband and I really want to go.

I sure wish I could find others who are also interested in the same date. Anyone out there interested? We're fun! <@

Cheuvront, what a wonderful graduation gift!

Katiebug, my husband and I are going to be in the Stonehenge area but not until the 29th of May. I copied the private access application from English Heritage and it doesn't say you must be a group of any particular size to access. The 28th thru 31st of May is a holiday weekend, hope that doesn't cause problems. Good luck getting your private access, I'll let you know what I find out when I call them for additional information. Deborah

FYI, I just reserved by phone a private access visit at Stonehenge for two on May 30th in the evening at 7:45 for one hour. The person took my name and number in our party and now I just have to send the application. Nothing else will be open so if you want the audio or the gift shop you would have to go during their normal hours and pay the fee. We bought the Great British Heritage Pass so that's not an extra cost to us. Cost for the private access is 10GBP per person and they accept credit cards. Deborah

You don't have to pay the fee to use the gift shop, which is adjacent to the car park and across the road from Stonehenge itself (a la Graceland!). Our Astral tour arrived 15 minutes before closing specifically so we could visit the Gift Shop and its facilities. If you want the audio, you should check whether they'll let them out for after-hours use.

Katiebug ,here's the trip and cost summary: Our guide will pick us up at our hotel at 6:30AM. Special access is from 8-9AM. We'll go to the gift shop after then to Salisbury for brunch/lunch. We'll see the town and cathedral and drive to Avebury stone circle and Old Sarum castle. Return to London is approx. 2PM. I originally wanted to do the afternoon tour, but going in the morning will give us time to take a nap and then head back out for the evening. The total for 3 of us is 413.00 pounds which includes all entrance fees. Parking, lunch and tip to driver will be extra. The driver/guide is suppose to be able to give us decent information on the areas also. Hope this helps.

cheuront,
contact astral by email. when I had a question about our tour they were very prompt in responding. maybe you could ask them about the date you need.

Yikes! I wonder if one of the car services, like Ray's London Transfers, would be available for 8 hours for less than that £400 fee. I know they do custom tours, not just airport transfers! As noted above, the Stonehenge access is £10 pp and IIRC the fees at Avebury and Old Sarum were tiny, token amounts.

What a coincidence, I've spent all day researching this. My problem is that I want special access without doing the full blown tour thing. Thanks for mentioning the EH web site - I'll give that a try!
Katiebug: it's too bad we're going to miss you by 4 days or we could have teamed up. We're going to be there from May 15-24. Of course, if you're willing to re-arrange your travel date...

May i please have the links for English Heritage and Astral. I have tried to use keyword but no luck. Missed Stonehenge on a previous visit to England but would like to do it in March when i am there. You all seem to have great info on visiting there. we are staying in London so i am interested in a day trip only. Thanks all!

Here's the link for Astral Travels:http://www.astraltravels.co.uk/index.htm