2013 RYEDALE ROUNDHOUSE
May Bank Holiday Weekend 2013
Last weekend we went up to the Ryedale Folk Museum on the quest to live the life style of late Iron Age Britons, just after the Romans had taken the south of the island, in the museums re-constructed roundhouse. In fact some of use had been planning this as far back as 2011 but hadn’t had the chance for one reason or the other.
So while other re-enactors on site held multi-period displays from the Roman period up to the Viking period, the three of us took on the characters of Broccos (the badger), Lucos (the wolf) and the wise old Vindos (the white) and lived the part.
While the day time weather was very good the nights were cold, but we kept the fire going low to put up with the smoke and slept in the roundhouse on Saturday and Sunday night. Lucos who is a rather delicate soul insisted on one of the beds built into the structure. Vindos the wise old tribal member had the other, which was only fair. The grumpy badger Broccos was left with the floor of the roundhouse so moved as close to the fire as possible without setting himself on fire to try to stay warm.
It worked, and apart from the early sunlight from the east waking poor Vindos coming through the doorway we slept surprising well both nights.
Cooking in the roundhouse was both fun and educational. We cooked old favourites which had been tried and tested in the field before but took the chance to add new things to our menus such as spit roast wild duck and hardboiled goose and quail eggs cooked in the embers. |
Lucos was not too sure of the duck and declined but both Broccos who was recovering from a recent illness and Vindos braved on and enjoyed the duck, served with crab apple sauce and berries. Maintaining the constant heat required, while still using the fire for other dishes, proved to be hard work and it took up more fire wood than perhaps it would have done during the period.
We were happily surprised at the numbers of members of the public that walked the whole length of the site to see us and welcomed the extremely positive comments. Many people had been before and were surprised to see the cold, dark draughty roundhouse alive with fire and blankets, cook-pots, baskets, and sacks, people, swords, shields and spears! We definately felt that it had been a worth-while exercise to try out new skills and hone old ones. Of course what would it be without photographic evidence? Many photos were taken and some of the best are shown here.