The sun beat down on the backs of the diggers, the Horse Flies bit, the insect repellant stung, joints creaked, but all was ok as we have mosaics! The first day of the dig and the mosaics are appearing from under the tarmac and turf.
The corridor and the reception room beyond
Some of the mosaic was covered by geotextile, as it had been excavated before, so we only needed to remove the soil on top and peel back the geotextile. At the threshold of the corridor we found the first section to uncover.
The geotextile with the impression of the tesserae that lay underneath
The reveal!
The side of the reception room, that abuts the threshold stones of the doorway to the corridor, has mosaic that is in good condition and the tesserae are large as it is the border of the room. Tesserae usually get smaller as the pattern gets more complicated in the centre of a room.
We had some tarmac to remove and found that like in other parts of the site where we lifted tarmac, it came in two layers. The older biscuit like, more stony tarmac is probably from the mid 20th century and the black, tar rich tarmac is from the 1980s.
The two types of tarmac the earlier one on the right
Tired, but happy we had managed to get started on such a hot day, we left the site ready for the new cohort of volunteers joining us tomorrow.
Mosaic on each side of the doorway between the corridor and reception room
Archaeology National Trust SW 
Very much looking forward to reading your updates & seeing what you find; good luck with the dig especially in this heat – Jackie