The Ancient Technology Centre

Damerham Road, Cranborne, BH21 5RP. Phone: 01725 517618

Email: atc@dorsetcc.gov.uk

All History@Work Weekends

10am - 4pm

Prices:

Adults £6 Children £3 (under 4s free)

Ancient Weekends: a chance to taste and smell the past!

Ancient Weekends at the Ancient Technology Centre are an ideal family day out in Dorset. They blend fun, living history, traditional crafts and skills, with hands on activities to excite children and inform visitors of all ages.

Bring a picnic or enjoy locally sourced foods, home made cake and delicious tea and coffee in the beautiful and timeless setting of this unique open air museum.

Imagine a place where the sound of ancient tools still ring, where ancient skills and processes are not forgotten. Bring your family to a unique day out in Dorset.

These weekends offer you the chance to see our volunteers and staff demonstrating their individual skills and expertise in a wide range of crafts and activities that genuinely contribute to the construction and maintenance of the site. The days are informal and allow you to ask  those detailed questions that you have always wanted to ask, to see authentic tools and methods at work and to enjoy behind the scenes detailed tours of our fabulous structures by those who built them.

This is a great chance to understand the complex issues and processes that turn a small piece of evidence from the ground into something tangible.

Bring a picnic and enjoy our home made cake and delicious tea and coffee in the beautiful and timeless setting of this unique open air museum.

These days are the perfect opportunity to be practically involved and maybe volunteer.

Ever wondered how our ancestors built or made things?

History@Work Weekends showcase the inner workings of Experimental Archaeology.

Unfortunately no dogs are allowed on site.

Ancient Harvest & Apple Day

8th & 9th October

10 am – 4 pm

Adults £10  Children £5 (under 4s free)

Medieval Winter Fayre

3rd & 4th December

10 am – 4 pm

Adults £10  Children £5 (under 4s free)

More details coming soon

Calendar 2016

28th & 29th May

25th & 26th June

24th & 25th September

29th & 30th October

26th & 27th November

As usual, our Roman fruit press will be at the heart of the weekend so that visitors can bring their own apples, pears and bottles and join in the process of cleaning, scratting and pressing their own delicious, fresh juice.

This year we are also celebrating with some terrific local producers and #tasteofdorset finalists. Visitors can learn about what it takes to make award-winning cider with Bill Meaden of Cranborne Chase Cider, how long it takes to go from fresh milk to a heavenly, creamy cheese with Alison French of Chalke Valley Cheese or find out that all important secret to divinely crusty bread with Chris Wakley of Orchard Bay Bakery! Each producer will have items for sale on the day, too!

Dorset Charcuterie will be back with an amazing asado BBQ and filling our Anglo Saxon house full of delicious preserves, demonstrating some useful tips on preserving meat and vegetables. Prepare your tastebuds as Caroline Nicolay of Pario Gallico returns with more delicious food - this time based on apples, honey and the harvest.

Amateur beekeepers like ourselves will be delighted to meet our old friend Jim Binning of www.jimthebee.co.uk (advisor to Monty Don, among others) who will join us to talk about natural beekeeping. We will be there with some bee-related activities!

Don’t forget to purchase an authentic historical gift at The Trade Tent and our new shop - Scoppa