Discover Britain: West Stow Country Park and Anglo-Saxon Village

  • Published
  • By Staff Sgt. Connor Estes
  • 48th Fighter Wing Public Affairs
ROYAL AIR FORCE LAKENHEATH, England --  A couple of weekends ago, I decided to take my family to visit the West Stow Country Park and Anglo-Saxon Village. The park and village are conveniently located about 10 miles from both RAFs Mildenhall and Lakenheath.

We visited the Country Park portion on a prior occasion and enjoyed the beautiful nature trails and lake. Our children really enjoyed the playground, which has things to do for both toddlers and older children.

On this visit, we decided to explore the Anglo-Saxon village. The village has been rebuilt to look as it would have during Anglo-Saxon times. The first clue that there was a village located in this area came when the cemetery was found accidentally in 1849.

Archaeologists then found scattered pieces of pottery, which helped them work out where the village might have been. Several small-scale excavations throughout this century led to buildings being found as well. The main excavation was held from 1965 to 1972 by Dr. Stanley West.

Reconstruction of the Anglo-Saxon dwellings began after this in the 70s, and the first visitor center opened in 1988; this significantly increased the number of visitors to the site.

Additions have been made through the years, including the Anglo-Saxon Center in 1995, which includes artifacts found during excavations of the area and displays showing how life was in the village. In 1999, the new Anglo-Saxon Center Cafe and Shop were opened.

During our visit, we were lucky to find that they had a special event going on for February half term known as Ring Quest: A Middle Earth Adventure for the Family.

We were given a packet to help us find clues to complete our quest. As a family, we searched for ancient symbols called runes on cards at various locations and wrote them down to later be translated into letters. Each card gave us a clue to where the next rune would be.

We were to find nine runes in the Realm of Man and 10 in the Realm of Elves and Dwarves. The Realm of Man was located in the Anglo-Saxon village and the Realm of Elves and Dwarves was located in the Country Park.

We were successful in finding all of the runes in the Realm of Man and all of the runes for the elves. However, with the temperature continuing to drop and snow beginning to fall, we had to leave before we found the runes of the dwarves! It was a fun time, but a two-year-old can only take so much cold!

We did enjoy seeing how the village would have been in the past, complete with people in costumes, fires burning, archery lessons taking place, and chickens roaming free. One thing we encountered that I'm sure did not take place back then was a performer in an Lord of the Ring's Orc costume! He was a bit scary for the kids but was neat all the same.

After enduring the freezing temperatures, we enjoyed coming inside to the cafe for some yummy carrot cake and hot chocolate. We also enjoyed looking through the gift shop, where both of our children picked out interesting necklaces as souvenirs.

Overall, our visit was interesting and pleasant, and we look forward to visiting again in the future, maybe when it's a little warmer!

The Country Park and Anglo-Saxon village offer many special events including a "Discover West Stow" day with free admission to the village coming up in March. They also offer guided walks, archery days, and other events throughout the year. Be sure to check them out for a fun day out with the family!