Crop Circle Information Centre moves to Wiltshire Museum in Devizes

It was based at Woodborough Garden Centre in the Pewsey Vale last summer, when it was visited by at least 5,000 people, the majority of them from overseas, but it will be in the museum’s art gallery from mid-June to the end of August.

An intricate pattern in a field near Calne in August 2000

Museum director David Dawson said: “Having the CCIC here is a natural progression in our interest in the Wiltshire landscape.”

The crop circle pass scheme, introduced in Wiltshire last year, is to be repeated, but the charge has been simplified.

There were three types of passes at different prices – per day, week or month – and organiser Monique Klinkenbergh said it was confusing for visitors, so this year the pass will cost £10 for the entire crop circle season.

Ms Klinkenbergh, who has been studying crop circles since 2006 and spends her summers in Clench Common near Marlborough to investigate them, said the pass scheme had been received well generally.

Four farmers – David Hughes of Beckhampton, James and Jill Hussey of Hackpen, Jeremy Leonard of Netherstreet and John Hayward from Titcombe – signed up to the scheme to allow people who bought a pass access to their land which had crop circles. Each farmer received a payment to reimburse them.

She said: “People interested in visiting crop circles felt more comfortable with a pass. For 20 years it has been chaos. People didn’t know if they were welcome on farmers’ land.

“With the pass system people really valued the feeling they could explore knowing they were not doing an illegal thing.”

Last year 206 passes were sold and payments to farmers totalled £2,250 plus a donation of £500 to the Royal Agricultural Benevolent Institution.

Additional donations made by the public amounted to just under £5,000 and this has been carried over into the Wiltshire Farmers Crop Circle Fund.

The crop circle passes will be available to buy online from mid-May at www.cropcircleaccess.com and there is a free App at cropcircleaccess.

Passes can also be bought at Stick & Stones Cafe at Woodborough Garden Centre, and Faux Art in The Parade, Marlborough.

Normal admission charges to the museum will apply for those who wish to visit the CCIC.

Last year was one of the sparsest for the number of crop circle formations.

In Wiltshire, there were 33 circles and just three others elsewhere in the UK.

This was the lowest in Wiltshire since 2006’s 22 reports.

In 2012, there were 54 crop circles in Wiltshire and 19 in the rest of the UK. The year with the most recorded crop circles in Wiltshire was 2000, with 79 instances.

It is thought extreme cold and wet spring in the UK delaying crops was a factor last year, when the first formation was on June 2. The first this year was on April 16, near Wootton Rivers.

PRIVATE CROP CIRCLE TOURS		MYSTERIOUS WILTSHIRE
Wiltshire has the highest concentration of Crop Circles in the World
During the Summer crop circles in amazingly complex and intricate patterns appear overnight in the Wessex countryside. Debate rages as to whether they are hoaxes or created by aliens. Suggestions linking them to energy lines that circle the earth or to ancient pagan sites have been put forward. Or are they the creation of fakers who use planks and rope to create these geometric patterns; if so why has no-one ever seen them in spite of extensive surveillance! Wiltshire Crop Circle Season Each summer the greatest and most tangible unexplained phenomenon of our time is played out in fields of grain. Every year in Wiltshire scores of geometric symbols, mandalas and beautiful patterns appear in the crop fields, particularly in the county of Wiltshire. This magical landscape includes not only the majority of crop circles, but also some of England’s most remarkable ancient sacred sites. Although June, July and August is the height of the crop circle season we often see them as early as March as as late as September each year. Explore this amazing mystery for yourself. Our guides live in the heart of crop circle country (no coincidence) and have access to the information network that provides breaking news on the latest formations and so we set off in search of new crop circles within hours of them forming, when their energy is strongest. Join us on a private crop circle tour this year. The Stonehenge Travel Company Mysterious Landscape, Magical Tours