A new-look museum has opened at Housesteads Roman Fort in Northumberland after work on the first phase of improvements to the site's visitor facilities was completed.

English Heritage has led the redevelopment of the musuem at Housesteads, one of the UK's most complete Roman forts. The second phase will involve the National Trust visitor centre.

The museum scheme has cost more than £1m and will allow visitors to access the remains of the barracks with new and upgraded interpretation across the site.

An interactive and audio-visual exhibition examining life at Vercovicium - the hilltop fortress and civilian settlement to the north of the Roman empire is also on offer at the museum.

English Heritage interpretation manager David Thomas said: "As Housesteads is the most complete example of a Roman Fort in Britain, it is the ideal place to come and visit this spring."

Details: www.english-heritage.org.uk