THE VIKINGS came to Worcestershire at the weekend - but thankfully rather than to pillage and plunder, they were here to trade.

The modern day Vikings set up an authentic traders market at Bishops Wood Centre, near Stourport-on-Severn. Visitors saw skills from the Saxon and Viking periods including shoe-making, weaving leather-work and fire-making.

There were also combat demonstrations in the use of a range of Viking weaponry.

Among the activities laid on for children who visited the centre, which has an authentic reproduction of a hall from the early Saxon period that took volunteers four years to build, were lessons in mask and jewellery making.

The Vikings themselves came from Birmingham, Manchester and Stoke on Trent.

They were all members of the national educational charity "The Vikings".