A free Roman day out in Verulamium Park

If you are after a day out that costs nothing and barely requires any planning, the Roman Wall of St Albans is an easy one to slot in. It is an English Heritage site sitting right in Verulamium Park on King Harry Lane, so for anyone living in or visiting St Albans, it is more of a stroll than a journey. The wall itself was built between AD 265 and AD 270 to defend the Roman city of Verulamium, and it ran for two miles around the settlement. At its highest point it stood five metres tall, topped by a walkway and a 1.8-metre parapet; today, the surviving sections still reach four metres, and you can still make out the foundations of two towers, the bastions and the London Gate.

Entry is free and the site is open at any reasonable time during daylight hours, which makes it a low-pressure visit. You can park on King Harry Lane, though spaces are limited, or leave your car at the Verulamium Museum and walk about ten minutes through the park. The museum is well worth the short walk: it sits on the site of one of the largest Roman cities in Britain and fills its rooms with recreated Roman spaces, mosaics and finds from the area. It is a Tripadvisor Traveller's Choice winner from 2024 and holds a Green Heritage Site Accreditation, something only about 130 sites across the country can claim. It opens daily from 10:00 to 16:00, with last admission at 15:30.

The park around the wall rounds the day off for families and couples. There are toilets, a café and a children's play area, so it is an easy place to settle in for a few hours rather than just a quick look. Dogs on leads are welcome, but there are a few rules to be aware of: smoking, vaping, barbecues and open flames are not permitted, and anyone wanting to fly a drone needs to check the drone guide first.

If you want to make a longer day of it, the area around St Albans is thick with history. St Albans Cathedral is the oldest site of continuous Christian worship in Britain, founded in 793 and consecrated in 1115, and it opens daily from 08:30 to 17:45. The St Albans Museum + Gallery, free to all, is housed in the historic Town Hall on St Peter's Street and covers more than 2,000 years of heritage. And the St Albans Clock Tower, the only surviving medieval town belfry in England, stands 19.6 metres tall with 93 steps to the top, though it only opens on weekends and Bank Holidays between Good Friday and the end of September, plus under the Heritage Open Days scheme. For something a bit more off the beaten track, the ruins of Old Gorhambury House, an Elizabethan mansion built in the 1560s by Sir Nicholas Bacon, are also free to visit nearby. Between the wall, the museum and the cathedral, you can build a full day of history without ever leaving the area.