The Time Team has just three days to answer questions raised by a local farmer about the archaeological history on his Somerset doorstep, asking whether this once-impenetrable, marsh-encircled site was Alfred's hiding place.

The village of Ribchester is midway between Preston and Clitheroe, in a tranquil setting beside the River Ribble. In Roman times, however, it must have seemed like the last outpost of the empire to a legionary of the newly conquering army. Jim Ridge, a local resident, asked Time Team to investigate the Roman remains in his garden.

Old foundations found in a garden may be one of the first houses to be built in the town - is this so? How did Much Wenlock become a big market town as it is today? The 'Time Team' reveal evidence of a 13th-century aisled hall in a present-day garden in Much Wenlock. Through the identification of 13th-century pottery finds and tree-ring dating, they link the building with visits by Henry II.

In the Dark Ages, a powerful king decided to show how powerful he was. He built an island in the middle of a lake, and stuck a palace on top of it. Who was the king, who were the builders, and what happened to them all? The time team visits the site of this Dark Age man-made island, known as a Crannog, in Llangorse Lake near Brecon in Wales.