Just back from a busy few days  in 21st-century Hampshire and Bedfordshire, collecting further evidence (if any were needed) to prove that you meet lovely people in libraries.

For a writer, getting out of the house and actually meeting people is so exciting that by the end of the week my mouth was outpacing my brain. Apologies to the ladies who had to stand and wait while I tried to figure out how to subtract £12 from £20 on Saturday afternoon, and who politely rejected my offer of £23 change.

In stark contrast, it was a joy to be able to catch up with the latest developments at Hampshire’s Butser Ancient Farm. Anyone who watched the delivery of three little pigs a couple of weeks ago on ‘Countryfile’ will be pleased to hear they’re doing well – here they are. For those who care about that sort of thing, they’re a Tamworth/wild boar cross.

Butser Ancient Farm is experimental archaeology writ large, and on a fine summer’s day it makes the Iron Age seem a delightful place to live. (Let’s not spoil things by imagining how different it must be in the depths of February.)