Cirencester is a well-to-do town, but its Romano-British antecedent was at one time the second largest town in Roman Britain, a prosperous centre of trade, a centre of mosaic production, and probably the capital of the south-west province of Britain.

The boys explored with diligence and enthusiasm the museum, which has a rich collection of arresting mosaics and a wealth of artefacts from coins to massive capitals; and I was impressed by how much information Year 6 had managed to garner from our limited time there. A competition to see which trio could answer most questions was very close: congratulations to the winning team of Theo, Kailuo and Harry.

A snaking journey through beautiful Cotswoldshire took us to Chedworth, where lunch was eaten in what had been once the courtyard of a large and opulent villa – one of at least fifty in the Cotswolds.

We saw one of the villa’s two bathhouses with its elaborate hypocaust and the expansive triclinium with the famous figure of furtive Winter in Birrus Britannicus. At the corner of North and South ranges was the Nymphaeum, sacred to water spirits and which still provides water for the site. We also saw the room where a mosaic was discovered from the 5th or even 6th century – long after the received end of the Mosaic Age.

All told, a worthwhile trip. We did not have time to see the amphitheatre; and if you are ever near Cirencester – itself always worth a visit – I recommend you take your boys there.