If you’re looking for an alternative activity over the festive period, here’s just the thing: you’ll have a rare opportunity to tour a mysterious, long-abandoned English village.
The village in question is Imber in Wiltshire, a mysterious hamlet on the Salisbury Plain which was deserted during World War II and is now owned by the military. From December 29 2025 to January 1 2026, the Ministry of Defence is giving the public the rare opportunity to tour the place.
Imber has a fascinating backstory. Appearing in the Domesday Book of 1086, for years the village was just a quiet farming settlement. However, it was slowly bought up by the MoD until, by 1932, all the farmland was owned by the government. During World War II in 1943, all 150 residents were kicked out to allow American soldiers to train for the invasion of Nazi-occupied Europe. Even after the war ended, locals weren’t allowed to return.
Today, despite being vacant and still under the control of the military, the village has kept its original features – including the Grade I- listed St Giles Church, which is home to wall paintings from the 13th and 15th century. There’s also farmhouses, a school, council homes, training buildings constructed by the military in the 1970s and a pub called The Bell Inn. On tour days, the church will be open each day from 10am to 4pm and be serving light refreshments.
For a few days a year, the MoD lets the public tour the town on foot, and on other days it’s still used for training including ‘large scale tactical manoeuvres’ which involve aircraft and heavy vehicles.
With that in mind, the military has warned the public about how they visit the site. It advises visitors to stick to the path, not enter buildings marked as ‘unsafe’ and not to climb on disused tanks, which are ‘hard targets’ and covered with jagged metal. Bear in mind that the Ministry of Defence may withdraw access to Imber for ‘operational reasons’ at short notice.
The last time the village was open to the public was in August for an annual fundraising ‘Imberbus’ event which was visited by 4,000 people travelling on old and new Routemaster buses.
You can find out more about visiting on the Imber Village website here.
For more traditional Christmas fun, check out where and when the Coca Cola Christmas bus will be visiting this year.
Stay in the loop: sign up to our free Time Out UK newsletter for the latest UK news and the best stuff happening across the country.