The stones after hours: a different way to see Stonehenge

Usually seen from behind a rope, Stonehenge feels very different when the crowds have gone – an intimate new tour offers rare access to the stone circle

Every year, millions of people view Stonehenge. Most are on the road, but many of them do it from behind a rope and last month, after the visitors had gone, I stepped across it. Barack Obama crossed it in 2014. We’re all used to seeing the crowds trying to get inside at the solstices.
Now, English Heritage is offering a three-and-a-half hour tour where up to five people can explore the landscape when the visitors have departed and, for a magical moment, step inside the stone circle.
Bales of hay stand upright in a field off the A303 – a reminder that beyond the stone circle is a working landscape where people have lived, farmed and celebrated for millennia.
With more than 180 scheduled monuments including earthworks and burial mounds, the land around Stonehenge provides a complex tapestry of how ancient people lived and died. Hidden within it are stories stretching back to 4500 BC, many of which we still do not understand.
Stonehenge is an edifice which prompts more questions than answers. Built in 2500 BC, the stone circle pre-dates the invention of the wheel and writing.
Although the sarsen stones came from within 20 miles of Stonehenge, the smaller bluestone rocks came from Wales, and the altar stone from Scotland. Experiments suggest it may have taken 30 to 40 people to move one of the stones. There is an archaeological theory that the bluestones may have been associated with healing, suggesting a place where people came looking for cures.

The wider landscape
We started the tour at nearby Durrington and Woodhenge, the notorious A303 traffic causing a slight delay before we cut through the garrison village of Larkhill. The Royal Artillery has long had a connection with the Stonehenge landscape through nearby Larkhill, one of the Army’s official gun saluting stations. Larkhill is named for the larks – and even today they cluster around the ancient monuments.
At Durrington, the wider landscape of Stonehenge becomes clearer. Guides Julia Kirkland and James McCarraher – the tour’s walking encyclopaedias – explain how this area is older than Stonehenge, and is where people actually lived. Earthworks mark the henge, and the entire area was once part of a complex network of trading routes running across the country and beyond. Amber has been found here, and archaeologists even found a spot where a child wet the bed thousands of years ago. This is the land of the living: this is where the builders lived.
Stonehenge came later.
In this landscape, everything has meaning. What looks to a casual observer like a bit of rock is in fact part of an early Neolithic causeway enclosure known as Robin Hood’s Ball. A closer look at a simple grassy area reveals another henge.

Within the circle
In the distance I get my first glimpse of the stone circle, then, as we drive down a dirt track, Stonehenge suddenly looms ahead. Romney sheep look on as I walk up the path towards the stones, before stepping across the cordon into the inner circle.. Suddenly everything seems quieter and more peaceful. Starlings look down from the massive trilithon stones, then swoop away over the high plain. Originally built as a closed circle, less than half the stones remain today.
It’s only up close that you get to see the remarkable engineering involved in setting the stone circle. One fallen lintel reveals the mortise carved into it; above, the standing upright carries the corresponding tenon. Stonehenge was effectively joined together like enormous prehistoric carpentry.

The precision with which the stones were positioned is remarkable: at sunrise, the sun rises over the Heel Stone to the north-east, filling the inner circle with light.
There’s the famous Altar Stone too: the huge block – the only Old Red Sandstone in the circle – is in careful alignment with the Heel Stone.
Many of the stones have ancient carvings – there are at least 177 daggers carved into the stonework. There are graffiti too, although obviously this is not encouraged today. Christopher Wren, born a few miles south west at East Knoyle, left his name here and Stonehenge is thought to have been the inspiration for his career as an architect.
There are more than 80 different lichens on the stones, including some rare species. As we stand within the circle, apart from the bleating of a sheep and the birds, there is silence. I’m in awe of how the circle was constructed, how big the stones are, and I’m left asking more questions about the mysteries of this remarkable place.
‘So much of what the people at Stonehenge knew was forgotten,’ said Julia. ‘We do a lot of believing here: it may … it could … ‘

Who is the tour for?
At £295 per adult, this is unquestionably an expensive way to see Stonehenge. However, for those fascinated by the mysteries of the stones, it’s a compelling opportunity – not least the chance to have the place to yourself.
It is extraordinary to celebrate a special moment in the stone circle – there have already been two marriage proposals since the tours began.
Sara Whines, communications manager at English Heritage, told me Stonehenge is the charity’s highest-earning site.The income helps support their work on less visited properties. It is initiatives like this tour that help maintain them, and enable free visits for us to Maiden Castle or Knowlton Church, for example. Although a private visit like this is a fabulous experience, it raises a wider question about how heritage sites can be made more accessible, while needing constant maintenance, research, security and protection.
The Stonehenge Explorer Tour costs £295 per adult and £195 per child (aged 12-17 – the tour is not suitable for children under 12). Booking is now open until March 2027.
The tour takes place five days a week until November 2026, and three days a week from December to March.  
For more information, visit english-heritage.org.uk/stonehenge