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Bodrifty village is in the Penwith district of West Cornwall. Penwith is the first place in Britain
to be mentioned in writing in 325 B.C. by a Greek called
Pytheas
who wrote: “The people are friendly to strangers and from their
contact with foreign merchants are civilised in their way of
life.” The roundhouse is built where excavations in the
1950s found an Iron Age settlement of eight roundhouses. This is a
reconstruction of one of the roundhouses at the farm. It's different from most
timber roundhouses because its walls are stone slabs with a roundwood timber and
thatch roof. The bed (right) is a flight of fancy from the Middle Ages but
suits the house nonetheless. The reeds for the home came from 2
acres of local marshland, the granite stones, some weighing 2 tons, came from
the farm left lying around by generations of farmers. The roof rests on a ring
of oak pillars with hazel laths to support the reed. The gaps in the stone walls
are filled with 'rab', a local sub soil, mixed with lime.
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