Sometimes re-enactments seem to come to me, rather than me finding them. In September 2015 I was up in the Lake District, in fact cooking my evening meal, when I caught the words “re-enactment” and “Hadrian’s Wall” on the television in the other room.

It turned out that a 100+ strong group called Legio I Italica had travelled from Italy for an event that weekend. Being on “il Vallo di Adriano” seemed hugely emotional for many of the participants. Initially at Birdoswald, in the evening they transferred to the more remote Housestead fort where, after having left Rome in 40C heat, the sudden temperature drop gave them a real sense of guarding the Empire’s Northern frontier.