A new attraction which offers visitors the chance to experience life as an Iron Age villager opens this weekend. The Cinderbury settlement near Coleford in the Forest of Dean (Gloucestershire, England), includes several roundhouses, an iron smelting furnace, pottery kiln and clay-domed bread oven. People can visit for the day, for a weekend, or experience an entire week, where they will wear authentic clothes, forage for food or learn to weave.
     Director Jasper Blake said Cinderbury aims to be both fun and education. "The idea is that they come and experience some of the life an Iron Age person might have lived," he said. "We don't want to make it a survival holiday, we want people to get back in touch with raw materials like wood and iron and stone." Those braving a week's stay will live in a communal roundhouse, sleeping on animal skins, existing on a pre-Roman diet which excludes caffeine, sweets or potatoes and using compost-style toilets. No mobile phones, wrist watches or any modern accessories will be allowed, although 'tribal staff' will have access to telephones for emergencies. "It's not the only thing, we are open to day visitors and school parties, it's very much an educational type project," said Mr Blake, who hopes to inspire an interest in archaeology.

Source: BBC News (4 July 2005)