The Romans - visits, books etc

[InSummertime]

Trying to look at Amazon lots of books about the Romans - has any got any recommendations (Year 4) learning about the Romans and places to visit in the U.K. / preferably in the South West. Eldest is also interested and she is a highly academic 16 year old, son is in year 4- so one book for each would be good!

going to go to the Roman Baths at Bath Spa next week but anything else worth seeing? We are in the South West and the Roman Baths are an hour away
we will make a mosaic etc

We have some of the Mary Beard Romans series on DVD already

Horrible Histories Rotten Romans. I loved those books. The whole series is really good.

We enjoyed this

www.nationaltrust.org.uk/visit/gloucestershire-cotswolds/chedworth-roman-villa

Cirencester was a Roman town. It may have remains?

Bath, Cirencester, Chedworth…. The Newt in Somerset has done a restoration of a Roman house, I think.

Are you anywhere near Cirencester? The Corinium Museum is good. It even has its own small cinema.

One of the current exhibitions is of the gladiators' cemetery finds with interpretation boards etc.

coriniummuseum.org/event/gladiators-a-cemetery-of-secrets/

Also Chedworth Roman villa is open to the public, I think.

Great tip we have a NT membership!

Just over an hour away so doable!

Roman Mysteries are good for Y4
I, Claudius, or Falco novels for 16yo?

Fishbourne Roman Villa, Chichester
Temple of Mithras, London
Lullingstone Roman Villa, Kent
Hadrian's Wall if you can travel that far

Chedworth might be shut over the winter @InSummertime so check before you travel but Corinium museum is good in Cirencester and I'm always in awe of the amphitheatre in town (currently being used for sledging)!

I was also going to recommend Cirencester Museum - the mosaics are wonderful. I'm told the mosaics at Taunton Museum are also excellent. Bath Roman baths are a great call, it's a brilliant day out.

It's a long way, so prob not an in person visit, but look at the cards found at Vindolanda on Hadrians Wall. Ds found they really connected him as you see 'the Romans' as real people asking for more socks to be sent, inviting their mates over for a birthday party and naming real people. He also enjoyed learning some Latin through the Minimus books which base around Vindolanda

Classics graduate here. I've always loved the Romans and my parents took me to all sorts of places when I was a kid.

Any of those villas mentioned are good. The baths are really good too. Lots of information on how the Romans adopted local religions.

Horrible histories are great starter books as are the Usborne Time Traveller series. I also massively loved Asterix as a kid. While not a history book, they are lots of fun.

For the older one I, Claudius could be a good read. Any Mary Beard book is very accessible.

Is the older one a girl? They might find Sarah B Pomeroy's Goddess, Wives, Whores and Slaves interesting about women's lives in Greece and Rome. It's quite academic though.

At 16 I started my classic A Level and trying to remember what books we read then.

Following the PP's post about being a Classics grad - my DD is currently applying for a Classics-y course for next year, she is VERY into all things Roman and Greek. She's really loved the retelling of many of the myths that have been around lately - Natalie Haynes (she also does a podcast - Stands up for the Classics), Madeleine Miller, Pat Barker, Jennifer Saint, Stephen Fry. She particularly enjoys the feminist angle that many of the retellings take.

So if your older DD IS definitely keen on this stuff, there's LOADS of books out there that are very accessible. Beware though, it's very easy to get sucked into the obsession

DD (Yr3) has just finished studying the Romans this term & we're in the SW too.
We visited Cirencester in half term - loved the museum, really recommend it. Didn't make it out the Chedworth unfortunately.
Taunton museum is good, but very small & covers lots, not just Romans.
School took them to the Roman Baths.
I bought DD this book - Everything: Romans in Britain: March onwards for facts, photos and fun! (National Geographic Kids) amzn.eu/80ycHJd
Gives a good overview & not too complex.
Can also recommend a documentary on Disney/Nat Geo about Pompeii about the 'bodies' discovered in the city.
I did some Classics at Uni & love all this stuff - been to Pompeii & Herculaneum several times.

I remember reading the Eagle of the Ninth and really enjoying it- but no idea how old I was- maybe somewhere in between Yr 4 and 16 tbh!

I wouldn't make a special trip to it but Silchester is good if you are in the area. Its between Reading and Basingstoke. It's the site of a Roman town and there is basically just the walls left so you need to use your imagination. They do have a small amphitheatre/collesuem which is quite good. Gets muddy in winter though.

Oh my god we love Natalie Haynes and her podcast etc have the book song of Ancilles and Circe and Stephen fry’s mythos … and Mary beards Pompeii - but all these are great shouts so thank you !!

we aren’t far from Wales so I wonder what’s over in the border - we’d like to walk it one summer!

I live just up the road so as a childminder and a mother and grandmother I have made many, many visits to Caerleon with lots of children and other adults.

The amphitheatre is wonderful, especially if you don't mind the children leaping around, as will the more adventurous adults.
The Roman Legion museum is interesting and it's free.
The Roman baths are great too, you have to pay.

There are some really nice pubs and cafes too.