Real wood, fairly easy for one person to assemble, sturdy and a great quality unfinished wood which should only need the very lightest sanding before I put a coat of light stain on to finish.  Only glitch during assembly was two wooden dowels on the end of one piece were too long for it to fit to the corresponding piece, so I needed a small handheld jigsaw to cut off the ends and make it fit.  No big deal (unless you don't have a jigsaw).