It doesn’t happen very often, and never before has a National Trust property closed for such an unprecedented period. After closing the doors back in the Autumn, six months have passed while the team at Sutton Hoo have undertaken a multi-million pound project to transform the visitor brand experience. With so much going on the team couldn’t wait to share its transformation but knew they needed to manage expectations while each phase completed.
Hoo’s Hoo?
Sutton Hoo is one of two significant Anglo Saxon discoveries in the UK, which makes it an extremely important site and one of the most interesting and unique National Trust properties in the country. The site bucks the trend in many ways compared to other Trust properties and as a destination property, the interest is not only national but international.
Sitting along the River Deben across from Woodbridge, Sutton Hoo is a site of two 6th and early 7th-century cemeteries. From the day Mrs Pretty felt intrigued to dig on some unusually placed mounds, or Hoo’s as they are known, the story of Sutton Hoo started to uncover. One of the cemeteries contained an undisturbed ship burial and a collection of signifiant artefacts including the helmet which is believed to have been worn by Anglo Saxon King Raedwald.