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What to do on a sunny, breezy summer’s day in the North-East?
Hadrian’s Wall is a World Heritage site on our doorstep, so we hopped in the Spider and set off to visit some of the closer sites to home.
First stop was Corbridge Roman Station. I first visited Corbridge site many, many years ago, and even chose the granaries for my A-level archaeology project.
Corbridge is a pleasure to walk around. The plan is very easy to follow (due largely to the Victorian ‘wall-following’ method of excavation) so if you don’t like sites where there are a few blocks and the rest is up to your imagination, then this is the place for you.
The museum is also very impressive and has recently been renovated.
From the site, I spotted Beaufront Castle and another mansion (which I haven’t yet identified).
In surrounding cornfields were golden in the sunshine, studded wiith ruby-red poppies.
Next stop was Chesters Fort. Chesters in is a lovely country setting, just outside Chollerford on the banks of the river Tyne.
The highlight for me is the Clayton Museum (unfortunately closed due to the pandemic). This is a traditional Victorian museum, with mahogany cabinets and richly coloured walls.
No shots of the archaeology on this visit, but plenty of the horses frolicking in the sunshine and a fisherman in the Tyne.
On the way home, we stopped at Heddon-on-the-Wall, where there is a well preserved stretch of the eponymous structure. You get a good impression of how the wall was built and well worth a visit.