I've added an ochre filter to this scene, to give it the same mystical air we had in the underground cavern back in Chapter 8. Somehow, though, I don't think it works so well on this daylight scene as it did below ground, and so I'm toying with the idea of removing it. We'll see!

When I was writing the script for this chapter, I wasn't sure what the neolithic village should look like. I had a vague idea of wooden roundhouses with thatched roofs but that image really belonged to a much later period. I discovered these drystone buildings, quite by accident while on holiday in France. They're called bories and, having been in continuous use up until the 18th Century, they're still largely as they would have been when used by our prehistoric ancestors.

But did the ancient Britons ever live in anything similar? I'd never heard of anything like them in the UK. Some time later, I saw a documentary about Skara Brae, a wonderful neolithic drystone village discovered on Orkney. That was all the persuading I needed!

Oh, and don't forget, if you're enjoying Shades you can leave a comment (or ask a question) in the Shades forum!