Chitterne is a small, remote village nestling in the gentle folds of a vast area of chalk downland in southern England, known as the Salisbury Plain. The Plain has long been an area of historic and archaeological importance, where people have lived and left their mark for thousands of years. The place is peppered with burial mounds and criss-crossed by ancient trackways, most significantly around the great monument of Stonehenge, 8 miles east of the village. Nowadays the land is mostly owned by the Ministry of Defence, who use it for military training purposes, but close to the village the land is farmed. Great spreading fields of pasture and crops surround Chitterne, providing a rich backdrop to the life within.

Around 300 villagers inhabit about 140 dwellings. A good proportion of the houses are large, a mix of flint chequered or banded stone, weathered red brick or rendered, these give the place an air of prosperity. Interspersed are rows of little cottages, tile-topped old cob walls and newer houses in small closes.

The Chitterne Brook, a winterbourne (a stream that runs dry in summer), meanders through the village, skirting the road, before eventually joining the River Wylye. This road, the C22 from Tilshead, intersects with the B390 from Shrewton, near the village green and the Church. The two roads join for 100 yards or so and then go their separate ways again, the B390 leading to the nearest town, Warminster, 8 miles away, the C22 to Codford.

There are smaller lanes too and many paths and bridleways that lead walkers and riders out of the village toward the area of the downs left uncultivated. Here is a paradise of rare butterflies, wild flowers and birds, where the feeling of space beneath the vast sky is overwhelming. When the wind ripples through the long burnished grass in late summer you could imagine you are walking over a golden sea.