If you have ever wanted to feel like you have stepped right out of time, Fernacre Stone Circle is the place to do it. Even the name might come from the old word for 'faery', feren, which feels just right when you stand there with the wind in your ears and the empty moor all around you. Tucked away in one of the most desolate corners of Bodmin Moor, with Rough Tor looming like some ancient giant, this is one of Cornwall’s biggest and most mysterious circles. Getting here isn’t exactly a casual stroll. You will need sturdy boots, a map (and probably a backup map), and a good sense of humour about boggy ground and unpredictable weather. But when you finally stand among these weather-beaten stones, you realise you have reached a place that has been part of the landscape for thousands of years. Fernacre is massive, over 70 stones originally, with about 40 still standing today, sunk deep into the peat. Even though they do not look especially tall now, back when they were first put up, they would have been seriously impressive. The whole ring measures around 46 metres across, and it is not perfectly round, more of a slightly squashed circle that somehow feels even more ancient for it. Some think the name means bracken land, but I have always preferred the fairy connection. This place sits at the crossroads of some incredible prehistoric alignments. Rough Tor to the north, Brown Willy to the east, Garrow Tor to the south, Louden Hill to the west. If you stand in the middle, you are practically inside a natural compass of sacred peaks. People have even suggested that certain stones mark where the sun rises on the equinox or sets on old festival days. Whether you believe that or not, there is no denying how perfectly the circle seems to fit into the land. Close by, there are traces of old hut circles and farmed fields. The ruins of Fernacre farm were first mentioned way back in 1327, and the surrounding ground shows signs of cultivation stretching back into prehistory. No bones have ever been found in the huts, just flints and old stones, but that somehow makes it all feel even older, as if the people who built this place left quietly without a trace. Some say Fernacre and its neighbour Stannon were built much earlier than other circles in Cornwall because they are so big and have so many stones. If you do make the trek out here, be prepared for the quiet. Once you are there, you are really out in it, just you, the stones, and the wind. On a clear day, you can see for miles over the moor, and it is easy to imagine all the generations who walked the same ground, farming, burying their dead, and marking the passing of the seasons. It is not the easiest place to get to, but that is part of the magic. Standing there, with Rough Tor at your back and the empty land stretching out in every direction, you will feel like you have found something almost forgotten.