The woad flowers are in full bloom in our Iron Age enclosure! ✨ Did you know that woad is a natural source of indigo dye? It has been used for several thousand years throughout Europe and the Middle East - not only to dye textiles, but also as body paint.

Join us next month for a FANTASTIC immersive event exploring ancient crafts! 🔥✨ A team of craftspeople will be making items from the Iron Age, Romans, Saxon, Viking and Medieval Period. Pre-book online or annual passes get in FREE! www.butserancientfarm.co.uk/whats-on/calendar/stone-to-steel

All hail the humble corn dolly! Woven by countryfolk for hundreds of years as a way to capture the spirit of the grain and keep her safe between harvest and spring. 🌾 Beginner workshops: 13 Jun & 5 Sep 🌞 Intermediate: 16 May & 10 Oct Book this weekend:

This Sunday, enjoy hands-on learning beside the fire in our Neolithic House & see what life was like in the Stone Age. 🌿 £30 each 🐐 Includes FREE all-day entry to the farm 🦴 Make & take home a Stone Age necklace Last few spaces: www.butserancientfarm.co.uk/whats-on/calendar/stone-age-intro-may

We can’t wait to welcome visitors of all ages to the farm for May Half Term! 🔥✨ Join a special event or turn up for a relaxed day exploring our beautiful ancient farm at your own pace. Pre-book online to save £ on all standard entry tickets: www.butserancientfarm.co.uk/whats-on/calendar

Those wicker animals are delightful!

It's time for another update from our wonderful group of volunteers, the Experimentalists! 🐓✨ Not satisfied with weaving their own Iron Age coop, they have now made a set of willow chickens to match - plus a foxy friend to keep the flock on their toes! www.butserancientfarm.co.uk/blog/2026/5/...

This month on our Butser Plus blog we’ve been sharing details from this year’s Beltain wickerman design. Read the blog post to learn exactly how each of the wickerman's trinkets were inspired by real artefacts from the Amesbury Archer's grave! www.butserancientfarm.co.uk/butserplus-blog-home

Once again I am begging me to live closer to Butser

What is it like to work with ancient tools & materials? 🔥 Saturday 16 May - Amber Pendant Workshop Create your own attractive pendant & string to hang it: tinyurl.com/48n3nfk4 🦴 Sunday 17 May - Bone Artefact Workshop Create your own bone item using tools from prehistory: tinyurl.com/24chwhjw

This series of videos about the creation of a mosaic floor has been very informative indeed 👍

Visit us this Sunday to explore Iron Age Britain with the brilliant Raven Tor living history group! ✨🔥 Plus, the King's College London mosaic team are back in the Roman villa, laying a brand new mosaic design in our villa corridor. www.youtube.com/watch?v=c1gf...

Join us as we step back into the Iron Age This recreation roundhouse @butserancientfarm.co.uk is based on CS1, excavated at Danebury hillfort #Hampshire It has a thatched roof, oak plank walls and a central hearth complete with iron firedogs It is also quite wonderful 😍 #HillfortsWednesday

If you missed it, catch up here for some highlights, including the wicker man burn.

Thank you to everyone who joined us for Beltain festival at Butser this weekend! ✨🔥 Despite the weather forecast, the magic of Beltain kicked in and we got away with just one hour of rain - perfect for the parched landscape. This is a fertility festival after all! 🌦️ www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Mhs...

Best with sound. Beltain festival at @butserancientfarm.co.uk where there was music, storytelling (me), traders, food and drink, Morris, drumming … and FIRE! #beltain #beltaine #pagan #storytelling #wickerman

Tying a wish (small card with a wish written on it) to a 40 foot tall wicker man (see photo below) which was then ❤️‍🔥❤️‍🔥BURNT❤️‍🔥❤️‍🔥 It’s the Beltain celebration at @butserancientfarm.co.uk ! It’s amaze amaze amaze!

Witness a clash of conquerors with our BATTLE FOR BRITANNIA - a historic battle between the Saxons, Romans & Celts! 🔥 Sat 23 - Sun 24 May (10am - 4pm) Pre-book online to save £ with every ticket: www.butserancientfarm.co.uk/whats-on/calendar/saxon-roman-reenactment-living-history-hundas-26

it was lovely to ring in the summer with and meet some of y’all tonight; see you next year (hopefully) for another lovely Beltain at @butserancientfarm.co.uk!

Beltain at @butserancientfarm.co.uk was FANTASTIC!!! Genuinely one of the very best! If you like burning 40ft Wicker Men, this is the event for YOU!!!

Some highlights from yesterday’s Beltain Festival at @butserancientfarm.co.uk

Late #beltain wickerman burning at @butserancientfarm.co.uk

Met one of my history heroes and had a chat over our burgers. Obligatory photo afterwards. @butserancientfarm.co.uk

Absolutely wonderful evening at @butserancientfarm.co.uk for the burning of their wicker man - THE AMESBURY ARCHER- hence my talking on the Bronze Age. Drums, music, art in beautiful countryside. The sound of the carnyx too as the man burned. Here’s to 2027! #archaeology #wickerman #beltane

Local trustees wanted! ✨ The Friends of Butser Ancient Farm are looking for new trustees - and they would love to hear from you if you want to be more involved! Feel free to visit friendsofbutser.org or email [email protected] for more information about what the role involves.

Joyous Beltain to you! If you are at @butserancientfarm.co.uk tomorrow come & find me as I talk about the Bronze Age from our ancient roundhouse. And then marvel as we burn the wicker man to ask for the land and crops to be blessed! #archaeology #wickerman #beltaneblessings #heritage

SATURDAY at @butserancientfarm.co.uk is the Beltane burning man festival! I’ll be there again, in the Neolithic House, telling 30 mins of stories at 5:15pm and again at 6:45. See you there! #beltane #storytelling #fantasy

Merry Beltain! ✨🔥 We're excited to share our latest blog from Frances Hansom: 🌳 How long has Beltain been celebrated? 🔥 Was it an act of devotion, fertility or cleansing? ☠️ Were people really sacrificed? Read it here: www.butserancientfarm.co.uk/blog/2026/4/30/the-origins-of-beltain-frances-hansom

What materials did the Romans use to create their beautiful mosaic designs? 🏺⛏️ How did they keep the adhesive sticky, and what did they use to keep the tesserae flat and smooth? Watch & subscribe on Butser YouTube now: www.youtube.com/watch?v=TR4f...

Half Term Holiday Clubs are LIVE! 🔥✨ This May we have THREE fantastic themed days on our beautiful ancient farm: 🐐 Tue 26 - Behind-the-Scenes Butser 🪨 Wed 27 - Stone Age Survivors 🏺 Thu 28 - Resplendent Romans Book your spot here: butserancientfarm.co.uk/whats-on/calendar?tags=Holiday%20Clubs

A great morning travelling back to the Iron Age with year 3 archaeology exploring the roundhouses of @butserancientfarm.co.uk with @experimentalkearns.bsky.social and @durotrigesdig.bsky.social Can we please stay here? #Archaeology #AncientBlueSky #HillfortsWednesday

Just a reminder that Butser will be closed this weekend due to BELTAIN, our biggest event of the year! 🔥✨ We will be back open on Bank Holiday Monday 4th May, and if you can't make Beltain this year, you can relive last year's festival on our YouTube channel now: www.youtube.com/watch?v=teHZ...

On Saturday 30 May, take part in a pottery workshop with fine art ceramicist Jonathan Diorio - and create your own beautiful Manx Loaghtan sculpture! 🔥 Suitable for age 8+ 🌱 10am - 12pm 🦋 £45 per ticket Book your space now: www.butserancientfarm.co.uk/whats-on/cal...

Ohh, this will be interesting. I love these experimental archeology videos 👌

How did the Romans design, mark out and create their beautiful mosaic masterpieces? ⛏️ In the first episode of this three-part series, we followed a joint team from King's College London and the London School of Mosaic as they reconstructed the mosaic in our hypocaust room. youtu.be/MwoVAVmKNFc?...

The wickerman is almost ready for his one-and-only Beltain blaze… 🔥 Will you be there next weekend to welcome in the summer?

Aim in life: live close enough to Butser to do the fun things

Immerse yourself in living history with our time-travelling weekends this summer! ✨🌙 Normal entrance prices apply - and annual pass holders can enjoy them all for FREE! Explore our season of living history weekends now, and book your next adventure: tinyurl.com/upjwsm5r

Two-hour Ancient Wire Work workshop, led by tutor Holly Berkley. 🔥 Sunday 26 April 🍂 £50 per ticket 🔸 10am - 12pm OR 1pm - 3pm During the session, you will create 5 attractive copper rings to take away with you, all based on real archaeological finds!

What was in a Stone Age sewing kit? 🧐 Find out on our next workshop with award-winning heritage educator and experimental archaeologist Sally Pointer! 🔥 Saturday 25 April 🪨 10am - 3.30pm 🍃 £90 per ticket Last spaces available here: www.butserancientfarm.co.uk/whats-on/cal...

The brief from Julie in the shop @butserancientfarm.co.uk. Could you make a pair of "beehive" bin covers. Some wood bought, some sawn down, otherwise scrounged from the site. Hopefully met the brief...

Come and discover life in Roman Britain this weekend with a contingent from the Butser IX Legion! ⚡️🔥 Open Saturday to Sunday 10am-4pm - normal admission applies, with free entry for annual pass holders! Prebook online to save money on every ticket: www.butserancientfarm.co.uk/whats-on/cal...

Beltain is SOLD OUT! 🔥 Thanks to all our Butser Plus supporters who scooped up the last few tickets yesterday. We'll have a special video on YouTube after Beltain if you didn't manage to get tickets this year. Check out last year's Beltain highlights here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=teHZU6SSKqk

Who were the first craniopathists? 🧠 How did our ancestors use plants as pain relievers? Did they really use flint blades for surgical tools? And why did they drill holes in their heads? In this ep of Quick Fire Questions, Adrian explores the history of brain surgery! youtu.be/s99Dkz2qKuM?...

This week on the Butser blog, we've written all about the origins of the wickerman, Maypole, bannock bread, butter churns & other ancient rituals to explore this Beltain season. Read more here: www.butserancientfarm.co.uk/blog/2026/4/...

Beltain ticket resales are almost here! 🔥 ✨ 14 Apr - Butser Plus members (Pioneer & Hero tiers) will receive access to resale tickets at MIDDAY. 🌙 15 Apr - General sale if any left! Join Butser Plus to be first in line for tickets: www.butserancientfarm.co.uk/butserplus youtu.be/teHZU6SSKqk?...

This month on the Butser Plus blog, we've been working on the kitchen gardens as they spring back to life! We also explore a Saxon spell, sacred trees and an exotic source of manure... Plus there's info on Beltain resales next week! 🔥✨ Read more here: www.butserancientfarm.co.uk/butserplus-b...

Have you ever imagined life as a prehistoric nomad, following the herds and building a shelter at every stop? 🧐 In our latest video, we explore the process of weaving together a mesolithic structure. Do you have what it takes to survive in the Stone Age? 🌳🪨🔥 youtu.be/deodo9RKCZM?...

Celebrate the last weekend of the Easter break with a Copper Decoration workshop this Saturday! 🌿 Explore copper working techniques 🌙 Led by experienced artist and metalworker Lydia Asscher 🍂 Sat 11 April (11am-3pm) ✨ £85 each Last few tickets: www.butserancientfarm.co.uk/whats-on/cal...

Calling all woodworkers & coppice crafters! 🌳✨ Butser is hosting a brand new WOOD FAYRE 11-12 July in association with our friends at the Hampshire Coppice Group! We will be holding 2 comps for HURDLE and SPAR making & entries are open! www.butserancientfarm.co.uk/whats-on/calendar/wood-fayre