National Roman Legion Museum

The National Roman Legion Museum in Caerleon should be high on your list of free places to go with the kids in South Wales. This fantastic free museum invites families to take a trip back in time to the first century AD. It was then that the Romans built a magnificent fortress in South Wales at Caerleon, known by its Roman name of Isca. This fortress guarded the region for more than two centuries.

The museum houses an internationally important collection of artefacts illustrating life in Roman bases and the settlements that developed around them. Borrow a family guide and set off to explore. The imaginative displays will help children understand how the Romans lived, how they became so powerful and their legacy.

See items such as gemstones lost by visitors at the fortress baths, a small perfume ointment bottle found in a coffin and even an iron frying pan designed with a folding handle so it would fit inside a soldier’s pack.

At weekends and school holidays kids can try on replica armour in the full-sized barrack room and experience at first hand what life was like for a Roman soldier! To avoid disappointment, call for the exact dates before travelling.

There are computer interactives, life-size models and a Roman garden outside. If there’s a birthday coming up in the family, don’t forget that children’s birthday parties can be held there.

Spend the rest of your free day out with the kids in South Wales exploring other Caerleon Roman sites such as the most complete amphitheatre in Britain and the remains of the Roman Legionary Barracks. An admission charge applies to the Roman Fortress and Baths (see Cadw’s website for details).

Please see the website of Museum Wales to find out more.