Crop Circles ….Fact? Fiction? Faux? Fraud? Fantasy?

Crop circles have been around for many years – the earliest known one may well date from 1678 and was ascribed to the devil! But what are they? At their simplest they are designs cut into corn fields just ripe for harvest. Early ones tend to be circles arranged in some pattern, while later ones, particularly those appearing from the 1990s onwards to today, often show amazing complexity and beauty. Geometric designs, fractals, coded messages have all appeared, and have sent many students of different disciplines into a frenzy of speculation as to their cause, meaning, and significance. They appear overnight, with no-one apparently seeing any activity to alert them to a circle being created.

Farmers have mixed feelings about them. To many they are an expensive nuisance, since the part of the crop involved is generally too damaged to harvest, so many thousands of pounds can be lost. In addition, if a local paper or internet site publishes a picture of a new circle, many hundreds of cars are likely to descend on the farm, causing damage and mess. Other farmers have decided to cash in on the phenomenon, charging for car parking and selling souvenirs.

It was thought, in 1991, that the mystery was solved, when David Chorley and Douglas Brown admitted that back in the 70s, looking for a laugh, they came up with a way to make a crop circle, using just a rope, a plank and a homemade sighting device. Apparently they made many of these simple circles, and only admitted to making them when people started trying to claim government money to research them! But while there is no doubt that two people, working in the 7 hours of darkness around harvest time, with simple tools, could produce a crop circle, doubts as to the production of the large complex designs by this method began to emerge. A TV company, making a program about them wanted to create one and employed professionals, who, working in daylight, only managed to produce a small patterned circle in 12 hours. Some of the largest crop circles seen have been up to 900 feet (270 metres ) across.

So where can you see these circles – if you are lucky? Well, individual examples have now cropped up in various parts of the world, but the undoubted headquarters is in the two counties of Wiltshire and Hampshire in southern England. Students of crop circles have attached much importance to this location, as Wiltshire is also the home of Stonehenge of course , a UNESCO heritage site built 5,000 years ago. A few miles away is Avebury, also a neolithic site of standing stones, and nearby is Silbury Hill, the largest manmade mound in Europe, and built in the same period, but whose purpose is unknown. Many of the Hampshire circles have been found around Winchester, the former capital of England, and rich in medieval history. On the other hand, if you drive to Pewsey you can visit the crop circle visitors’ centre, from May to September, from where visits to crop circles can sometimes be arranged.

You may wonder how are they made? The most popular view still seems to be that they are man-made. If this is correct, the size, complexity, accuracy and apparent speed with which they are created remains astonishing – or as some would say, beyond belief. Other theories involve the study of ley lines, other intelligences, Gaia and New Age theories, some blame the military, noting that military land is in close proximity to some of the circles, and many helicopters have been observed around the crop circle sites. However, no explanation of what technology the helicopters are using, or what the motivation to create such public sites could be, leaves this theory no better supported than many others; and when you consider the absolute ravages a helicopter can cause by its downdraft, one might think that the military are the least likely theory.

Regardless of how they are made, the stunning array of circles which appear in the summer leave most visitors profoundly impressed and excited by the evidence of something outside our normal experience. That there is something unexplained and seemingly magical brings a welcome sense of mystery to the circles’ many visitors.

Why not plan a British summer trip and stay at the very beautiful Babington House in Somerset, close to Wiltshire. It’s a grade II listed Georgian manor dating back to 1705. There are endless things to do; bike riding, croquet, outdoor and indoor swimming, exercise in the gym. There’s a first class spa, a cinema and lots of quaint places to visit close by. The house itself is designed to make one feel completely at home; the drawing rooms, dining rooms and bedrooms are utterly sumptuous and the large gardens have over-sized loungers overlooking a beautiful lake. It’s actually close to Bath and there is very little not to love about this Soho House owned country property.