Arbeia Roman Fort at South Shields is a fascinating place which will probably stand up to repeated visits, particularly if there is an event there to see.

I hadn't read anything about this Roman Fort before going which may have been for the best because I was very pleasantly surprised at how much there was to see and the size of the place. I only knew that there was some ruins found in a housing estate in South Shields and it was free to enter, nothing more.

When you arrive there is a visitor centre with a good range of artefacts, exhibits (including a skeleton displayed in the floor!), and even some technology, with two headstones being brought to life (for want of a better phrase) with a short statement purportedly from that person about who they were and what their life was like. I was impressed by the range of books, models/toy helmets and swords, and other things in the gift shop which would be perfect to call in on the way out you want to find out more about the Roman Empire, or any children want a Gladiator-style helmet, sweets, a chilled canned drink from the fridge, or a Horrible Histories book.

After that, you go outside to the ruins of the fort, some of which have been rebuilt to 'proper' buildings to give you an even bigger appreciation of life at the thought, whether it's for the common soldier or the Commander. One room has a TV which plays a short film about the history behind the fort, the excavations, and the contributions from two of the people involved in the archaeological dig and have found Roman artefacts make archaeology, in a similar way to something like Time Team, sound very exciting and emotionally rewarding.

It's a very strange place because of the location. Unlike most Roman sites, this isn't surrounded by fields or other similar sites, but terraced housing. It's very incongruous but makes you wonder how much of this country was under Roman occupation and the chances of finding potentially priceless historical artefacts in your back garden, a public park, or a field – I guess there's a reason why people (like Lance and Andy in the TV show 'Detectorists') spend so much time outside metal detectors!