We're delighted to announce that we have received funding to support a project to creatively interpret Butser Ancient Farm through a series of specially commissioned stories.Councillor Robert Mocatta, as part of Hampshire County Council, has awarded the County Councillor Grant so that we can run training sessions for our volunteers to deliver the specially written tales.Two stories have been written by local author Dawn Nelson to enchant our younger visitors with tales of the people who may have lived in ancient homes like those at Butser; the interactive tales will transport our visitors back in time to imagine life in an ancient farm.
The funding will enable Dawn to run training sessions for volunteers at Butser so more people will be able to tell the stories and help bring this special place to life.
One of the stories will focus on the hunt for the Auroch, a scene painted on the wall of our Neolithic Llandygai house whilst the other will tell the tale of a missing Manx Loaghtan Sheep.
Thank you very much to Hampshire County Council and Councillor Robert Mocatta for supporting this exciting project.
Baby Goats born at Butser
This week we were delighted to welcome some more new arrivals to the farm. Twin baby goats were born overnight between Sunday 11th and Monday 12th March – a real Mothers’ Day surprise for their mum, English goat Bella!
These were shortly followed at Lunchtime on Monday by two more twin girls born to our goat Ainee. Finally Sorrel gave birth on Thursday to a little girl bringing our Kid count up to 5!
Life as a Roman: new virtual reality app in partnership with BBC Civilisations
We're excited to announce the launch of a new app featuring our Roman Villa in partnership with the BBC. The 'BBC Taster VR' app allows anyone to explore the villa in virtual reality from anywhere in the world!'Life as a Roman' is a collaboration between Butser Ancient Farm and the BBC as part of the landmark Civilisations series which tells the story of art from the dawn of human history to the present day, for the first time on a global scale.
Butser Ancient Farm submitted the idea to use 360 video to explore the ancient Roman villa and the BBC helped us realise our idea.The Butser Roman Legion helped us populate the villa with a range of people from the villa’s master to lowly slaves. The 360 video lets you explore the villa inside and out and see how people would have lived in Roman Britain.
See how the Roman soldiers used their swords, explore the Roman latrines and furnace, and spy on the Roman dining room.The app and download are available for three months, click here to find out more
Ancient apples planted at Butser to mark a special celebration
Yesterday marked a special moment at Butser Ancient Farm as we planted five apple trees to celebrate the wedding anniversary of two wonderful members of staff. Sue and Trevor, our projects coordinators marked the occasion by planting these ancient apple varieties (aided by director Simon!)
The beautiful specimens will form the start a small orchard which will be part of our exciting Roman garden development plans. Sue and Trevor picked the apple varieties, Charles Ross and James Grieve, to be of an old variety and tolerant of chalk soils. Thanks to head forester Michael Prior at Stansted Park for the advice on the best varieties to plant here.
We hope they will thrive and that soon we will have tasty Butser apples to sample!thanks Sue and Trevor!
First lambs of 2018 born at Butser!
This morning we arrived on the farm to a flurry of excitement as the first baby lambs of 2018 made their entrance to the world at the weekend. Two more were born this morning taking our total so far to 4.
After the 'Beast from the East' brought plunging temperatures, snow and ice last week we're glad our Manx Loaghtan waited for the thaw before delivering the new arrivals. All mothers and lambs are healthy and well and after the recent cold snap we're delighted to be witnessing this real sign of Spring. 
February Half-Term
We have plenty of activities for the whole family over half-term (Feb 12-16) - and now is the perfect time to watch spring come to life on our ancient farm!There is a new exploration trail aimed at younger visitors, all about the Signs of Spring and the beautiful nature of the South Downs landscape. We'll also have a range of different activities and demonstrations to get involved with:Monday - Learn to make bird feeders to take home, and give your garden birds a burst of energy while they're making their nests.Wednesday - Our blacksmith Wes will be demonstrating knife-making, Hilary will be teaching visitors how to make felt, and Helen will be weaving in the roundhouse.Thursday - A Stone Age-themed extravaganza with flintknapping and deer skinning!Friday - Our Roman cook Janet will be sharing delicious food to taste, bake bread in our bread oven with Simon, and cook bread and stew over the Saxon fire with Elizabeth.We will also be running a rolling series of 10 minute talks on site, each morning and afternoon. The themes will change so have a look on the information board just outside the shop or ask at the reception desk for details. Each talk will give an insight into some aspect of our past.The wickerman has also started for our Beltain Festival 2018 - there aren't many chances to see a 35ft effigy being built in the sunshine! The goats are in kid and the ewes in lamb so, no promises but anything could happen there.... Everything is looking green and pleasant, so why not come and visit over half-term?
Half Term at Butser
The traditional festival of Samhain marks the start of the 'dark half' of the year, as the days grow shorter and the nights lengthen. At Butser, as well as celebrating Samhain with music and stories in the roundhouse, we celebrate half term, when we take a breath of cool air before the run up to Christmas and the Winter Solstice, when we begin to look forward to spring again.
This October half term, we're inviting families to come and discover how people lived in Britain 1600 years ago at the Butser Roman villa. Families will have the chance to try some mosaic-making, drawing Roman pottery and experience the underfloor Roman hypocaust heating in operation. You can also try your hand at latrunculi, a Roman board game which is quite fascinating!
The Roman villa has recently reopened after a major restoration project over the summer. The newly whitewashed interiors have made the rooms brighter and the floors have been re-laid with opus signinum (Roman concrete) inlaid, in the Roman tradition, with broken pottery. These are real fragments of Romano-British pottery, giving a fantastic new touchstone to the past for Roman-themed visits.
Butser Ancient Farm can be reached from the A3. There are roadworks in operation over half-term but the road to Butser Ancient Farm from the A3 is still open.
The Bog Blog: Part IV
Much to everyone’s delight, the seat has now been sanded! The aesthetic result has been remarkable and, as each new piece is finished the more 'convenient' the convenience is looking... The footboard has been reinforced and the back of the seat tidied up, whilst the adjoining villa wall, artfully finished by the master masons, has been spurring the slaves on.
We even managed to get the Master Masons to try the new and improved seats and they were impressed with the results: no splinters!Inevitably, the Slaves were getting bored and started playing games on the toilet seat as well, preferring the Roman game Latrunculi to work. When asked to explain the rules, they suggested it is like a combination of checkers and chess. They made gaming counters from redundant ceramic building material from nearby Fishbourne Palace. Half the counters were covered in charcoal to distinguish between the two players.That’s everything so far!From, the loveable slaves at Butser Ancient FarmCatch up with the rest of the Bog Blog here:The Bog Blog: Part IIIThe Bog Blog: Part IIThe Bog Blog: Part I