Butser takes a little getting used to. After all, if you walked into a Celtic roundhouse or a Romano-British villa of AD 200 anywhere else, it would be generally safe to conclude you were at a museum or a tourist attraction of some sort. Butser is different. In 2017-18 the Villa was renovated including re-painting the walls based on excavated plaster remains showing original colours and patterns, and installing a replica mosaic floor in the central room. This took over 120,000 tesserae and 1000 hours. The villa has also been furnished with items representative of Roman furniture. [7] Saxon houses [ edit ] A re-enactor stands at the entrance to the Chalton A2 Saxon House reconstruction Get the whole family excited and involved with plenty of activities to interest everyone! Whatever your age and interests, there’s something here for you. Whether you want to have an epic adventure with hands-on activities, a children’s trail, and reenactor battles, or sit and relax by the fireside in a roundhouse and meet endangered goats, there’s plenty for you at Butser.

As they put it, “if you value quality, traceability and authenticity you can do no better!” and it certainly is a charming place to visit. From woodland-reared pork and home-cured smoked meats to “the best free range organic bronze turkeys you will ever taste”, everything is made to exacting standards on their own farm.

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Following the dismantling of the 'Longbridge Deverell House', the replacement is based on the excavations of the roundhouse at Little Woodbury in Wiltshire. Under the leadership of David Freeman, construction started in February 2007 and finished in December, having gone through one of the wettest summers on record. [ citation needed] A visitor centre was added in 2013. [6] Buildings [ edit ] Stone Age houses [ edit ] The butchery is run by Graham Smith, formally of High Street Fletching, who continues to prepare top quality meat, including the locally renowned Fletching Banger. As well as selling meat in the shop, they also supply the award-winning Griffin Inn in Fletching, The Hurstwood in High Hurstwood and the Lamb at Piltdown.

Claire Walton. Reimagining the Past: experiments in construction at Butser Ancient Farm ¸Current Archaeology issue 377, August 2021 July: Trevor Creighton. Butser Ancient Farm at 50: celebrating half a century of experimental archaeology. Current Archaeology issue 389, August 2022 Butser has also been featured in many other archaeological and historical documentaries including Mystic Britain, Digging for Britain and Britain’s Pompeii - A Village Lost in Time with Alice Roberts. The largest of these is the Little Woodbury roundhouse with a diameter of 14.5m (48ft) and a 2 ring posthole construction. Estimated material quantities to build this house include 12t (12 long tons; 13 short tons) of oak for the frame and posts, 4t (3.9 long tons; 4.4 short tons) of Ash and Elder for the rafters, 7t (6.9 long tons; 7.7 short tons) of thatch, 1.5t (1.5 long tons; 1.7 short tons) of hazel for the wattle walls and 20t (20 long tons; 22 short tons) of daub.

The name Eggs to Apples comes from the Latin phrase Ab ovo usque ad mala, literally translated as “from egg to apples”, meaning from the start of the meal to the end. Eggs to Apples offers the feel of an outdoor market in a beautiful and environmentally focused indoor space. As Susannah Hewett, one of the shop’s owners puts it, “Eggs to Apples is the farm shop come of age. This is about the full basket shop and allowing our customers to buy everything they need to cook and eat fantastic food using high quality, affordable and where possible locally-sourced produce from within Kent and Sussex.” In more recent years, the study of buildings has become a key component of the farm’s research. Each building on display to the public today represents the conclusion of an experiment, conducted in response to theoretical hypotheses about archaeological features found in excavation, about construction methods and techniques, or a combination of these. Opened in 2001, Sharnfold Farm Shop has built a loyal customer base, who nominated it as the Sussex Food Shop of the Year at the 2016 Sussex Food and Drink Awards. At the center of the farm, the Great Roundhouse is based on an excavation made at Little Woodbury, near Salisbury, Wiltshire. There have been several great roundhouses at Butser, as over the years fresh discoveries are being made about their construction and maintenance. The Little Wood bury roundhouse was just completed last year. With a diameter of 49 feet, it encloses more than 1,700 square feet of floor space and supports a roof weighing more than 25 tons. Those Celts were no flimsy builders; such great houses were built to last 200 years. May 10th: Trevor Creighton and Claire Walton, '( Re)constructing the Stone Age: Building a Neolithic house', at Experiencing Experimental Archaeology Conference, Lauresham Open-Air Laboratory, Lorsch Germany.