Town, England. Warminster is located roughly between Bristol and Southampton, or the cities of Bath and Salisbury to be more exact. It is located in Wiltshire, although I would say it isn't quite in the 'Westcountry'. No one is quite sure where the 'War' part of the name came from, but the town was fought over during the English civil war, and currently has a large military presence with the WTC. WTC in this case stands for the 'Warminster Training Centre', which is an infantry training ground. The Army regiment based here changes quite frequently so the local roads are often blocked by removal lorries. The Army camp itself is by no way the largest on Salisbury plain, but the town has the associated problem of drunken soldiers ruining the night scene (If there is one).

There is certainly more to Warminster than army fatigues though. The area has been settled since ancient times and this no better demonstrated by the number of ancient hill forts that dot the landscape. Battlesbury hill is unsurprisingly the gateway to the military ranges on Salisbury plain. These ranges include Imber, a deserted village. Cley Hill is a monolithic lump similar to Glastonbury Tor, but with less hippies in June. When in actual fact, Warminster has been on the new age trail along with Stonehenge and Avebury for some time. This allegedly started in 1965 with a string of sightings of the rather unimaginatively named 'Thing'. Warminster has been claiming the title of 'UFO Capital of Britain' ever since.

My own suggestions about the UFO's in Warminster is that they are mistaken for a series of beacons/aircraft warning lights in Warminster camp. Though in actuality I think this 'thing' is a load of rubbish. There haven't even been any cattle mutilations that I know of, though deaths of sheep have been attributed to Salisbury Plain's equivalence of the 'Beast of Bodmin'. I may nominate my own cats for any black panther sightings that there have been.

There is something else that could be mistaken for a UFO, that being the domed Centre Parcs leisure resort. Longleat's answer to the Millennium Dome is itself used as a water park/entertainment complex for paying visitors. Therefore it isn't much use to the locals apart from as a source of employment. The Longleat estate is owned by the exceedingly eccentric and rich hippy Lord Bath and includes the forest and neighbouring village of Horningsham. Then there is the boating lake Shearwater, which is surrounded by some very posh houses - not owned by Bath, but perhaps by some of his 'wifelets'. Longleat proper consists of the manor and the safari park, along with the 'worlds longest maze'.

This leaves the town itself, which is rather boring, though not as bad as some other towns in the vicinity. Warminster, with a population of around 18,000, benefits from a station, which runs roughly parallel to the main road. Warminster has a road bypass, although everyone seems to ignore it and congest the town centre instead. The town centre is served by a number of shops, including a supermarket, and has a plethora of takeaways. Despite this, it is still often necessary to visit places like Trowbridge or Salisbury due to the lack of services in the town. It lacks any major industry, which may be a good thing, since the air is relatively clean.

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