On Saturday 22nd January, five members of the team gave up a day of their weekend to spend it on site giving tours to local residents to explain what we've been up to for the last five months.  There was also a table of finds so that everyone could get a glimpse at the sorts of things that have been recovered during the archaeological works.

Overall, the day was a great success with about 80 members of the public turning up for a one hour tour of the site.

As is expected in mid-January, the site was rather wet and sloppy.  But thankfully the lovely locals took this in their stride, all turning up in boots and wellies ready to get muddy. Ironically, the hardest part of the tour was navigating our way across the quagmire at the entrance to the field, rather than walking round the site itself. And whilst I definitely saw a few kids eyeing up the slop to jump in, everyone managed to get across this obstacle fine - phew!

Armed with a trusty ranging pole to point things out (the red and white metal stick in the above photo), archaeologists guided everyone around the site, showing off the most interesting features, as well as explaining a bit about the planning process and why we were here undertaking the work.

Doing these open days isn't just about giving information to members of the public, it's also a useful exercise for us archaeologists!  At this stage of work, whilst we've identified a lot of buildings on the site, we aren't entirely sure what they were all used for - so it was really great to hear ideas from people who were seeing the site for the first time.

Overall, the day was a great success and we really hope that everyone who attended enjoyed themselves!  Big thanks to Nick, Lindsey, Chris, Holly and Louise for their informative talks and general enthusiasm.

If you want to hear more about the site, please do come to the talk which Project Manager Louise will be giving at the Weeley Village Hall on Wednesday 16th February at 6.30pm.