Over the Easter break we visited
West Stow, near Midenhall in Suffolk. It is about half an hours drive from our house. There was an Anglo-Saxon settlement there which has been excavated over the last thirty or so years. The houses that you can see are experimental reconstructions using what evidence the archaeologists can glean from their findings, combined with trial and error.
The building resembling a thatched tent was one of the first and least successful, the latter ones improving tangentially. The original houses seem to have been built over pits with posts set into them. A floor, walls, roof etc were then added, using them as supports.
On high days and holidays there are people occupying the place in authentic costume, demonstrating how life may have looked then. As we were there on a week day, the only residents were these two pigs (who occupy this very luxurious sty).
Just a few of the finds from the castle grounds.
Over Easter we visited my brother and his family in the West Country. We went for a look around
Sudeley Castle (near Wichcombe, Gloucestershire) and it's grounds. I had never heard of the place before, though it was marvellous. It has a long and lively history, mad topiary and a church within its grounds containing the tomb of Catherine Parr (the sixth wife of Henry VIII). The church and castle were recently used for the wedding of Elizabeth Hurley, though don't let that put you off.
