THE first roundhouse to be built in Wharfedale in more than 2,000 years has been officially opened at Ilkley's Nell Bank outdoor education centre.

The purpose-built new outdoor classroom has been built in the style of an ancient dwelling at the centre on Denton Road and it's hoped it will bring history to life.

Those behind the project, and the centre's early people settlement, said it demonstrated the continuing long term link between Nell Bank and Ilkley and District Round Table. It also provides an education facility which will benefit children of all ages and abilities for years to come.

The Nell Bank Round House has the capacity to provide many thousands of children per year with interactive history lessons and the opportunity for them to learn how early people lived.

The opening ceremony was performed by Bruce Fowler, a long-serving centre manager at Nell Bank who recently retired, along with Dan Goodey who is the new Nell Bank manager, and Mark Joyce, the chairman of Ilkley and District Round Table.

Mr Fowler said: "Ilkley and District Round Table has a long history in supporting the local community and particularly Nell Bank throughout the 21 years I have spent at the centre.

"It’s fantastic that in true Round Table style they are here at the end of the project just as they were at the outset. They truly are a special bunch of people."

Mr Goodey said the Roundhouse would enable the centre to bring history to life.

He said: "This incredible building is a focal point for the children’s learning, stimulating their imagination about what life must have been like thousands of years ago. How would they survive? Where would they shelter? How would they keep warm, light a fire to cook on and what would he eat?

"Answers to questions like these and many others will be found by exploring the new early people’s settlement with the Round House at the centre."

Visiting children can hunt for useful objects in the woods, build a shelter of their own and learn how early settlers would have lit a fire.

The next step will be to develop the archaeological dig, and help children learn even more about the past and how life has changed over the years.