JUST ten years ago people were still smoking in restaurants, Top of the Pops was on our screens and mobile phones were just that – not the app factories, mobile information centres and lifelines that they are today.

So imagining 5,000 years ago is difficult to comprehend.

There were settlements of people living around Stonehenge, and earthworks were built which later became part of the monument that stands today.

Experts are still unable to state exactly what the purpose of Stonehenge was.

The abundance of human remains found have led many to believe that the stones served as a monument to lost loved ones, but recently the amount of skeletal trauma in the excavated bones has led some leading archaeologists to believe Stonehenge served as a prehistoric Lourdes, and was a place of healing.

Meanwhile, because of the placement of the stones, it has also been interpreted as an ancient calendar, and a place of religious worship.

Whatever the reason, it is incredible to think of Neolithic people transporting four-ton stones nearly 200 miles.

Thousands of people descend every year for the Summer Solstice, but many of the revellers are not from Salisbury.

Locals tend to fall into three different camps of thought: ‘blasted hippies’; ‘I’m not going to spend all night up there when it might rain and I could be at home in bed’; or ‘might be interesting, but there's always next year’.

By the time I was of an age to appreciate how incredible it is that it’s happening on our doorstep, I had moved out of the area.

Now I'm in a position to go, I've been struggling to find someone to accompany me.

Even though I have attempted to lure friends with the promise of ‘delicious snacks and a thermos of coffee laced with Baileys’, there are a surprising amount of christenings that weekend, while my friend Annie came back with a simple, ‘Nah, not my thing I'm afraid’. So just like our Neolithic ancestors, I face a long and arduous journey – I hope I don't sleep through my alarm.