Corbridge Roman Fort

We had a lovely trip out to the Corbridge Roman fort this afternoon, which made me quite nostalgic for my trowelling days (I worked on a couple of Roman and Iron Age excavations as a summer job while I was at university). I really liked Corbridge - it feels rough around the edges like the archaeologists have just left. You can wander about all over the site, clamber over the walls, and explore the nooks and crannies. Here's Orb and M peering under the granary floor...

What I also liked was the way the tiny on-site museum had made itself child-friendly with the minimum of expenditure. We hunted for Grricola the lion's favourite items (which were nicely interpreted and explained), and did a couple of jigsaws. It's not rocket science, but the addition of 10 small cuddly lions suddenly made the rather dry display cases far more exciting.

Sadly, there were no bath houses (I have a soft spot for these, having spent what felt like months cleaning out the hypercaust in one), so we might have to try Chesters, the next major site along Hadrian's Wall, before our English Heritage cards run out.