Iron Age fort £2.5m visitor centre opens to public
BBCA new £2.5m visitor centre at what is thought to be the biggest Iron Age hillfort in the country has opened its doors.
Based at Ham Hill Country Park near Yeovil in Somerset, the new site features a gallery, museum, cafe and shop.
The centre, which was paid for using money from the National Lottery Heritage Fund and the Wolfson Foundation, will also host community education sessions with park rangers.
The team at Ham Hill said it will transform the way they engage with visitors at the site, where remains have been found that date back 2,500 years.
Edd Chilcott, the community ranger at Ham Hill, runs classes and sessions for schools and residents about the uniques history and ecology of the site.
He said: "It's going to massively improve the way we do community engagement.
"With the backdrop now we have all of the history, be that Roman, Celtic, Victorian, Edwardian... or even talking about the biodiversity - it's going to make my job much easier because there is going to be this fantastic resource to teach groups."
Green estates manager Rachel Whaite, who will manage the new site, added it was "spectacular" to see the building finally built after about a decade of planning.
"It enables us to speak to our visitors, in a way we've never been able to before," she said.
Councillor Graham Oakes, who looks after public health, climate change and environment for Somerset Council, said he was "really, really, really pleased and relieved to... get it over the line under budget.
Mr Oakes also thanked the National Lottery Heritage Fund and the Wolfson Foundation, which he said had helped create an "iconic" centre.
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