Chesters Roman Fort

We have had a super and tiring day out in the sun at Chesters Roman Fort with home ed friends today. We are lucky to live near Hadrian's Wall as there are a lot of local Roman historical sites nearby. We are not English Heritage members but, booked in advance, they allow groups of home educators to visit for free.

I love places like this - I think actually being in the physical location really helps children to imagine historical life and Harry often plays role play games afterwards, remembering lots of facts we have discussed. The fresh air and wide open space is great for them too.

The children chose a favourite object in the museum and we looked at each one. Harry's was a metal horse head used on the front of a shield. 

We visited the ruins of the gatehouse

At the site of Chesters Bridge over the River Tyne we found a great area for lunch where the children played in the river.

The bath house area was popular, the children rushed around trying to find the hot houses, cool pools, toilets and scraping room for a chocolate prize! We also saw the ruins of the commanding officer's house.

Harry and Peter pretended to be dancers entertaining the officers after we talked about what the Romans would have done for entertainment.

There were lots of pine cones on the way out so they each collected some to bring home.