Secrets of the Heath Day 1

I'm back from day one of the Petersfield Heath Secrets of the Heath event. And what an incredibly eventful day it was. Where to begin? I'll try my best to summarise the day and choose a few choice photographs after.

Turning up at the event an hour early, I helped sort out our Buster Ancient Farm stall and checked up on the Eurybia boat before it went on its first launch of the day. During this time, Will Lord came to visit us from his stall. It was decided that Ryan Watts, the lead builder of the Eurybia, dressed in full "Stone Age" clothing, would have a picture taken with Will in the boat. It was somewhat surreal, it has to be said, in that Will Lord paddled in a boat which I helped make. We spoke for a bit after said photographs were taken. Very much in the vein of Mears, Lord is down to earth and a pleasure to talk to. The rest of the day was somewhat fragmented, as I mostly spent it talking to customers and wandering around stalls and enjoying the atmosphere. At one point I walked with a friend and volunteer through the Heath Bronze Age barrows. Soon there came a more active point when I was paddling the boat a fair bit for the public which was nice.

After the event, around 5:30, we packed up and most of us went back to the Farm to celebrate. An Iron Age weekend was going on at Butser during the SotH, but by the time we got back to the Farm most of the reenactors had left or were hiding, so I didn't speak to many of them. I didn't stay long, but the barbecue was great and there were a couple of speeches of thanks to the boat builders and the Heath helpers. All in all, a very very eventful and exciting day.

I hope you all enjoyed the write up. Cheers.