MARLBOROUGH stands at a busy crossroads of major tourist routes.

Both the north-south and east-west routes through the town are historic.

The A4 that runs from London to Bristol was formerly known as the Great West Road and in bygone centuries had its share of highwaymen.

The opening of the M4 motorway at the end of the 1960s took away much of the traffic that formerly plagued Marlborough with bank holiday tailbacks for five miles either side of the town.

There was a honeymoon with hardly any east-west traffic for the first few years but it has gradually built back up but only to a fraction of the heyday of the road.

However, the north-south route that carries traffic between the Midlands and south coast ports and holiday resorts is busier than ever.

This, too, was formerly a coaching route and the Portsmouth to Cheltenham mail coaches stopped over in Marlborough.

The position of the town at this busy crossroads was the reason why it boasted so many inns and hotels.

The town grew up around providing hospitality for travellers and in that respect it is still a place where many people choose to break their journeys.

Whereas Marlborough grew up around roads, Pewsey has transport systems of other kinds…a mainline railway station and a wharf on the Kennet and Avon Canal.

Many of the commuters who today depend on Pewsey’s rail links have moved to the area for that reason, a home in the beautiful Pewsey Vale with trains whisking them to London in barely more than an hour.

The canal that once brought goods from east and west to Wiltshire is now a hive of leisure activity.