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A Roman-style villa built at a Shropshire heritage site which featured in a Channel 4 series has seen visitor numbers soar at the tourist attraction, it was revealed today.
The Villa Urbana at Wroxeter Roman City, near Shrewsbury, was created for the television documentary series Ro- me Wasn’t Built in a Day.
It was built by a team of six men who completed the project during six months last year.
Constructed using traditional Roman techniques, materials and tools, the town house is a recreation of the type of merchant-owned properties that would have stood in the city 1,500 years ago.
Officials at English Heritage, which owns the site, say that since the villa opened in March it has welcomed more than 33,500 visitors.
This compares to just 9,067 visitors who came to see the city ruins during the same period last year.
Among the villa’s luxury features are a fitted bathroom with copper bath, underfloor heating and a cold plunge pool, glass windows, dining room with mosaic floor and hand-painted wall frescos, servants’ quarters and even a retail outlet.
Mark Badger, head of visitor operations for English Heritage, said: “We’ve been absolutely delighted with how the public have responded to the house, it really has put Wroxeter back on the map.
“Compared to the same period last year, our paying visitor numbers are up, which is superb not only for this site, but also for all the other hospitality businesses that are looking after the extra visitors the town house has attracted.
“We’re very much looking forward to welcoming thousands more visitors over the summer.”
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But don’t lean on the red dye Walls as it will ruin your clothes!!!!!
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Whilst the re-created town house is well worth seeing (although for a Roman dwelling some of the work seems very roughly finished) it needs more money spending on it to improve what is on offer: replica furnishings for the rooms and perhaps some form of sound effects. At present the place is “dead”.
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Just curious: how do you know what the finish was like on original Roman dwellings of this type?!
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