Was this a holiday or a history lesson?

Well, actually it was both! I have always loved history and archaeology and never let it be said that I am one to miss the opportunity to impart wonderful historical knowledge to my children, even if they're not in the slightest bit interested (which fortunately for me and the sake of our holiday on this occasion they were). My eldest has been doing Iron Age and Roman Britain as her topic this term so when we found ourselves near Castell Henllys it was the perfect place to visit to show her what iron age life was really all about.

If you get the chance to visit then I thoroughly recommend it for a day out with the family - reasonable entrance price and plenty to see and do. Castell Henllys is an iron age hill fort which has been partially reconstructed for visitors. The round houses you see on site are built on the exact place that there were once real round houses all those years ago (based on the location of the post holes). It was a great experience to go inside a round house and see how the smoke from the fire didn't choke us and rose up into the roof space without setting fire to the thatch - a concept demonstrated by the costumed guide by making sparks fly up from the hearth! How does this work? Well, the answer is that there was no smoke hole at all as it would have added air and caused the sparks to ignite the thatch. (I tried to explain this when we built our own mini round house for her Easter project but this visit explained it much better!)

Our wonky attempt at a round house!

We learnt how to make fire using flint, about making bread and about weapons and warrior face paint too. The costumed guides did all they could to really make it come alive for the visitors.

If you'd like to know more you can here: www.castellhenllys.pembrokeshirecoast.org.uk