Butser Ancient Farm: Viking boats and autumn history

If you missed the Viking boat burning at Butser Ancient Farm earlier this month, you are not alone — it was the centrepiece of the Viking Reenactment Weekend on 5 and 6 September, and it is exactly the kind of thing that makes the farm worth knowing about for the rest of the autumn. The farm itself is an outdoor experimental archaeology museum on the Hampshire-Sussex border, inside the South Downs National Park, and it has been running since 1970. It was set up to test theories about ancient housing and practical life, and it does that by actually building the things it wants to study, with reconstructions covering everything from the Stone Age up to the Saxons.

The boat burning is the most dramatic moment on the calendar. A wicker long boat, complete with shields, oars, a sail and a dragon's head, is set on a small hill with a straw dummy behind it and burned at sunset. Two Viking women perform a ritual while three archers fire flaming arrows at the boat to cries of 'To Valhalla', and visitors can tie wishes to the wicker or donate a pound to charity to have them written on a piece of paper that gets burned with it. The weekend also brings in Bjarnarfolk, a late 9th-century Viking reenactment group, for living history and combat demonstrations. None of it costs extra beyond admission.

That is the good news: the farm is not a one-trick pony, and there is plenty still to come. The Roman Reenactment Weekend runs on 17 and 18 October with the Butser IX Roman Legion, and the Saxon Reenactment Weekend falls on 26 and 27 September. In between, there is a steady stream of workshops: traditional mosaic making on 26 September, flintknapping and belt weaving on the same weekend, and a bow making course from 27 to 30 October. For families with children aged 6 to 13, the Time Traveller Holiday Club runs from 26 to 30 October, and Jason Buck brings 'Dark Fairy Tales for the Season of Mists' to the site on Friday 16 October.

It is worth knowing how the place works before you turn up. The farm is near Petersfield in Hampshire, at Butser Ancient Farm, Chalton Lane, Chalton, PO8 0BG, and it sits right on the border of Hampshire, West Sussex and Surrey. Admission is £10 for adults, £9 for concessions, £6 for children aged 3 to 16, and £26 for a family ticket covering two adults and two children, with under-threes free and a free carer for visitors with a disability. From 1 October, the hours change to Monday to Friday, 10:00 to 16:00, with last entry at 15:00 and weekends closed, so plan your visit for a weekday.

Getting there is straightforward enough. There is a large free car park on site, with access via the Chalton/Clanfield exit of the A3. If you would rather not drive, Petersfield station is five miles away and the number 37 bus runs to Waterlooville, Havant and Clanfield. There is a cafe and restaurant on site, plenty of picnic areas, and dogs are welcome as long as they are well-behaved and kept on leads. The farm is also part of the South Downs National Park Cyclists and Walkers Welcome Scheme, so it is an easy stop if you are already out on two wheels or two feet in the South Downs.