The Green Grid Taskforce did a fantastic job in clearing back a large section of the scrub along the main horseride through the park. This work is essential to allow continued access to the entire park during the winter.

Here we can see the volunteers just starting to get to grips with the scrub; by the time they had finished the path was covered to head height with brashings. The volunteers did such a good job, it took over an hour to chip all the offcuts!

At lunch the volunteers were all treated to sausages (thanks to Groundwork) to cook on a carefully monitored open fire in the wood.

The South East Essex Conservation Volunteers helped with the construction of our new archaeological dig. The new dig was necessary as the old dig was overgrown and gradually falling apart.

The new dig will form a key part of our new Iron Age education programme. The new dig is larger and has been designed to be more accessible to children working in it.

Volunteers played a key role in the roundhouse construction by helping to build the main walls. The walls are made from wattle and daub, which is a mixture of straw and boulder clay. It is very heavy and sticky and is applied by throwing cannon ball sized lumps at the wattle fence. In all, 23 tonnes of daub was used; this took site staff and volunteers two weeks to complete.

We would like to say a big thank you to all who helped with the roundhouse construction.