Full information about the following parks and visits can be found in the January 2005 issue of Practical Caravan. For back issues telephone 08456 777812. Admission Price and Opening Times were correct at the time of publishing. Please check for latest information before visiting.

Where to go: BATH ROMAN BATHS

Location Abbey Church Yard, Bath, Somerset
Tel 01225 477785
Web www.romanbaths.co.uk
Open All year (except 25-26 December). Winter 9.30am-4.30pm; spring and autumn 9am-6pm; summer 9am-9pm.
Admission Adults £9. Children £5. OAPs/students £8. family ticket £24.
 •  The hot springs at Bath were sacred to the ancient Britons, but it was the Romans who turned the site into our first holiday resort. Its centrepiece was a huge bathing complex that still flows with water heated naturally underground to 46ºF (7.7°C). The baths were unearthed in 1880, and in the heart of this great Georgian city, which is now a World Heritage Site, you can visit the pool where Romans bathed, and walk their ancient stone pavements.

Where to stay: NEWTON MILL CAMPING PARK

Address Newton Road, Bath BA2 9JF
Website www.campinginbath.co.uk
Open All year

Where to go: CAERLEON AMPHITHEATRE, BARRACKS AND BATHS

Location High Street, Caerleon, Newport, Gwent
Tel 01633 422518
Open Daily 9.30pm-5pm (opens 12pm on Sundays in winter)
Admission Adults £2.50. Children £2. Family ticket £7 (amphitheatre free of charge).
 •  Caerleon became occupied in 75AD and was the permanent home of the Second Augustan Legion. The most dramatic feature of this 50-acre site is the oval-shaped amphitheatre, where the legionnaires would have gathered to watch traditional Roman games. In its day, it would have seated 6000 people, and it is the best-preserved example of its kind in Britain. Other sites include the ruins of the nearby barracks and bathhouse complex.

Where to stay: PENCELLI CASTLE CARAVAN AND CAMPING PARK

Address Pencelli, Brecon, Powys LD3 7LX
Tel 01874 665451
Website www.pencelli-castle.co.uk
Open All year

Where to go: DEVA ROMAN EXPERIENCE

Location Pierpoint Lane, off Bridge Street, Chester, Cheshire CH1 1NL
Tel 01244 343407
Open Daily 9.00am-5pm (closed 25-26 December)
Admission Adult £4.25. Under-16s £2.50. Family ticket £12
 •  Based on the great Roman fort that lies buried below modern Chester, this is a great way for the whole family to learn what life was like two millennia ago. At this award-winning museum, you can walk along a reconstructed street and see life inside the old fortress at first hand, then inspect a modern-day archaeological dig. A Roman soldier will even take parties of up to 30 on patrol (at an extra charge) through the streets of Chester.

Where to stay: CHESTER SOUTHERLY CARAVAN PARK

Address Balderton Lane, Marlston-cum-Lache, Chester, Cheshire CH4 9LB
Tel 01244 671308
Open All year

Where to go: DOVER CASTLE & PAINTED HOUSE

Location Dover, Kent
Tel Castle (on east side of town) 01304 211067; House (in New Street) 01304 203279.
Open Castle 10am-4pm in winter, 9.30am-6.30pm in summer (closed 24-26 December and 1 January). House 10am-5pm April-September (Sunday 2pm-5pm).
Admission Castle: adults £8.50; children £4.30; family of five £21.30. House: Adults £2; children 80p.
 •  Dover Castle has secret World War II tunnels and many displays concerning its history since it was built in 1066 by William the Conqueror. But its grounds are also the site of a Roman castle and painted house, which are believed to date all the way back to AD200.

Where to stay: BLACK HORSE FARM CARAVAN CLUB SITE

Address 385 Canterbury Road, Densole, Folkestone
Tel 01303 892665
Website www.caravanclub.co.uk
Open All year

Where to go: HADRIAN'S WALL

Location Housesteads Roman Fort, B6318, Bardon Mill, Northumberland.
Tel 01434 344363
Open Winter 10am-4pm. Summer 10am 6pm (closed 25-26 December and 1 January).
Admission Adults £3.50. Children £1.80.

 •  Hadrian's Wall is by far our greatest Roman monument, running for 73 miles between the estuaries of the rivers Tyne and Solway to defend southern Roman Britain from the invading Celtic tribes in the north. Taking six years to build, it was completed in AD139. Along its length were 16 large forts in addition to smaller fortifications every mile. One of the best-surviving stretches of the wall is between Sewingshields and Steel-Rigg, west of Housesteads Fort.

Where to stay: HADRIAN'S WALL CARAVAN AND CAMPING SITE

Address Balderton Lane, Marlston-cum-Lache, Chester, Cheshire CH4 9LB
Tel 01244 671308
Open All year

Where to go: CORINIUM MUSEUM

Location Park Street, Cirencester
Tel 01285 655611
Open Monday-Saturday 10am-5pm. Sunday/bank holidays 2pm-5pm
Admission Adults £3.50. Children £2. Family £8
 •  One of Britain's best Roman museums has just re-opened after a £5 million facelift, and showcases the history of Corinium (Cirencester), the second biggest Roman town outside the capital of Londinium. The Roman collection is now spread over two floors and includes marvellous mosaics, tombstones and sculpture, as well as room and shop reconstructions and objects from everyday life. There is also a major new Anglo-Saxon gallery, featuring rare gold pendants from a cemetery that was uncovered in 1985.

Where to stay: PLOUGH LANE CARAVAN PARK

Address Kington langely, Chippenham, Wiltshire SN15 5PS
Tel 01249 750795
Website www.ploughlane.co.uk
Open All year

Where to go: RICHBOROUGH ROMAN FORT

Location Richborough, near Sandwich, Kent
Open 10am-6pm, 1 April-30 September
Admission Adults £3.50. Children £1.80
 •  Richborough was the bridgehead for the Roman invasion of AD43, and was also one of the first Roman forts in Britain. It subsequently became an important naval supply base and the main point of entry into the UK from the Continent. In the third century, a new fort was developed on the site, with walls that were surrounded by a double defensive ditch. The changing nature of the coastline means that the old port is now stranded two miles away from the sea. Access to the site of the adjacent Roman amphitheatre (which is open all-year round) is free of charge.

Where to stay: CANTERBURY CAMPING AND CARAVANNING CLUB SITE

Address Bekesbourne Lane, Canterbury CT3 4AB
Tel 01227 463216 (no calls after 8.00pm)
Open All year

Where to go: VERULAMIUM MUSEUM

Location Verulamium Museum, St Michael's Street, St Albans, Hertfordshire AL3 4SW
Tel 01727 751810
Open Mon-Sat 10.00am-5.30pm, Sun 2.00pm-5.30pm
Admission Adults £3.30. Children £2. Under-5s free. Family ticket £8.
 •  The St Albans of today lies to the east of the site of the third largest Roman city in the country, Verulamium. The town museum highlights the city's history, including everyday life in Roman times, and contains many superb artefacts. On the opposite side of the road lies the Roman theatre. The hypocaust (the heated cavity beneath a tiled floor) of a bathhouse is signposted, and visitors can also view isolated fragments of the city walls.

Where to stay: BREAKSPEAR WAY CARAVAN CLUB SITE

Address Buncefield Lane, Breakspear Way, Hemel Hempstead HP2 4TZ
Tel 01442 268286
Website www.caravanclub.co.uk
Open All year

Where to go: WADE'S CAUSEWAY

Location Wheeldale Moor, 10 miles north of Pickering, North Yorkshire Moors National Park
Open All year
Admission Free (public footpath)
 •  Many of Britain's main Roman roads have survived, and some, like Ermine Street (the A1), Watling Street (the A5) and Fosse Way (the A46), are still in use today – albeit long since covered over with tarmac. However, one Roman road survives in a remarkably fine state of preservation in highest Yorkshire, its original surface still apparent amid the heather and bracken of the open moorland. Wade's Causeway, which must be reached via narrow country lanes, crosses Wheeldale Moor, a favourite spot for walkers. Nearby are the remains of Cawthorne camp, built for training Roman soldiers.

Where to stay: ROWNTREE PARK CARAVAN CLUB SITE

Address Terry Avenue, York YO23 1JQ
Tel 01904 658997
Website www.caravanclub.co.uk
Open All year

Where to go: WROXETER ROMAN CITY

Location Wroxeter, near Shrewsbury
Tel 01743 761330
Open Daily 10am-6pm. Closes at 4pm in winter
Admission Adults £4. Children £2. Family ticket £10
 •  The great buried city at Wroxeter, which lies just off the Roman road of Watling Street, started off as a fort founded in AD48. It was excavated in 1975. Named Viroconium, the settlement became the fourth largest in Roman Britain and had its own law court, a market and a large public baths, along with many other fine buildings. It's is also thought by many to be the legendary Camelot – from which King Arthur defended Britain from the invading Saxons. The impressive remains include city walls, a gateway and bathhouse, plus a modern visitor centre.

Where to stay: BEACONSFIELD FARM PARK

Address Upper Battlefield, Shrewsbury, Shropshire SY4 4AA
Tel 01939 210370
Website www.beaconsfield-farm.co.uk
Open All year

ADULTS ONLY

Full information about the above parks and attractions can be found in the January 2005 issue of Practical Caravan. For back issues telephone 08456 777812. Admission Price and Opening Times were correct at the time of publishing. Please check for latest information before visiting.