The dark might have been oppressive if weren’t adorned with dozens of tiny flames. Even combined, their meager amber glow could barely penetrate the depths of the stoney chamber, but each one was a point of warmth on the thick black canvas. So far the tomb only housed one person’s remains, but over the coming years that numbers is to grow into the hundreds.

A few weeks ago my girlfriend and I visited the West Kennet Long Barrow, one of the oldest existing buildings on the entire planet. Wiltshire is famous for its links to ancient history, made especially real by the numerous neolithic tombs that still scatter the county and that particular one is the flagship example. But now a local farmer has brought all that bronze age burial business into the www. era by constructing the first long barrow to be built in Britain for four millennia and offering up the plots inside it to anyone with a bit of cash going spare.

The work has been done over the course of 2014 just outside the village of All Cannings, partly using chalk and earth from the construction of a barn at a neighbouring farm and partly using stone imported into the area, including some bluestone of the kind that appears at Stonehenge. After all the effort, today was an open morning to show off the end product to anyone who was interested. ‘Get there quickly,’ we were told. ‘The owner wants to get to the pub.’ Can’t argue with that, so it was on with the boots and a quick scramble across the Kennet & Avon canal to where this 21st century tomb sits inconspicuously in a muddy field.

Even as we walked along the track leading towards the barrow we could hear the chattering voices of a healthy crowd which had converged from far parts of Wiltshire and beyond. On our arrival, a press photo shoot was being carried out in the doorway so we turned to the refreshments table which had, fittingly, been laid out with English Heritage approved mead. Honey-sweet and packing quite a punch, the golden liquid went down smoothly to set us up for an intimate guided tour with the owner’s wife and her small torch.

While on the whole it appears nothing more than a large mound from the outside, there is a front-facing wall made of large stones which houses the entryway. These may not be as grand as the sarson stones which form the threshold to other barrows, but their effect is still impressive. Beyond that is a wrought iron gate leading into a central passageway within.

Suddenly the dark becomes enclosing, and by the weak torchlight we were guided into one of the round chambers which lead off the spine. The entire interior is made from Cotswold dry stone, about the size of a standard brick, piled high from floor to round, spiralling ceiling. Built into the walls are the niches which are to house the urns- either one or an entire family’s worth- each one adorned this morning with a small candle. The weight of the earth overhead insulates completely from all noise and happenings outside.

There is already one lady interred here. Her spot was chosen by serendipity and a rather sweet twist of fate: when the deceased lady’s husband visited the barrow, a butterfly came in, flew straight to that particular shelf and settled there. He knew that had to be the one. The owner, meanwhile, has bagged his spot at the end of the main passageway and marked his territory today with an apple.

The entire construction has been beautifully rendered, truly a testament to both the owner’s vision and the skill of the stone masons. There is a strange, otherworldly feel to the whole place. To say you feel transported to an ancient world would both cloying and misleading, but certainly it induces a feeling of detachment from the modern environment, if only for a few minutes.

We re-entered reality to find ourselves again surrounded by sharp morning light and people planning their walk to the local pub. Being a home for the dead, the long barrow is not just left open for visitors to come and go as they please, but anyone interested in this curious mix of ancient and modern may enter by appointment. For anyone coming to visit the neolithic sites nearby, this offers a wonderfully made point of comparison and is well worth the phone call.