I struggled through Anglo Saxon at Oxford, it was obligatory to do two papers in it for the first year exams. I loathed it with a passion, I only got through by learning all the wretched texts by heart ( I can still do some of them fifty years on….)
Then about ten years ago, I returned to Anglo Saxon England by way of an interest in Romanesque architecture and Late Antiquity, and at the moment it is one of my major interests. I find it especially fascinating as there is so little documentation compared to Western Europe, so speculation is permissible (and unavoidable). Oh irony.
Yes, Wood is excellent; his Tv series on the history of England exemplified in a single village is riveting. If you like A/S, can I also recommend the blog ‘A clerk of Oxford’ which has fascinating information about the early English calendar, customs and places.