It is really important that when you visit the Vale of Pewsey, you know where to park and where not to park. It is a very rural area and sometimes the ideal-looking parking spot can be anything but! Parking in the wrong place can cause many issues, particularly if you are going on a long walk which is a favourite activity in the Vale. If you park your car in the wrong place, and you won't be getting back to it for 3 or 4 hours possibly, all sorts of incidents can happen in that time, as you can imagine. Sometimes places look perfect for parking, but in reality are not. We have some general advice on where not to park as well as specific places in villages where parking must not take place.
We hope you find this information useful.
General Parking Advice
Do not park:
In front of field entrances. They may look perfect for parking but farmers and farm workers may need access. Their tasks are likely to be date and/or weather dependent and so probably can not be done at another time. At harvest time in particular (July, August and September), they may need access to crops and it will definitely be time critical.
On the grass verge on a single track lane. It might look like there is plenty of room for other traffic to pass, but tractors and combine harvesters need around 3 to 3.5 metres - they are enormous! Again, the work they are travelling to is very likely to be time and date critical, so any hold ups from parked cars can impact their work considerably.
Outside Churches. There's often a few parking bays, or a turning circle by a Church and if you are visiting the Church, then of course you can use these spaces. However, please don't use them if you are off on a walk or cycle ride for any length of time. There have been incidents in some villages where a funeral or other event is taking place at the Church and they can't get the hearse or vehicle to the Church gate because of parked cars not associated with the event.
In Village Hall car parks. All village halls have a parking area but most are only available for the hall users.
Theft from Vehicles
Sadly, it is not uncommon for vehicles in isolated locations to be broken into and the contents stolen.
Please do not leave anything inside your vehicle of any value. You can find more information and advice from Wiltshire Police here.
If you do suffer a break in and/or theft, then please report this to the police so that they are aware and can record the crime.
Parking Information for Villages in the Vale
The following parking locations and parking information have been provided by Parish Councils to encourage safe and sensible parking. Many of these locations are undesignated which means they are not recognised as parking spaces but the location should be fine for cars to park there without causing any issues.
