Chedworth Roman Villa was discovered in 1864 by a gamekeeper digging for a ferret, and is located in beautiful wooded valley in the Cotswolds. Chedworth is one of twenty-two villas found in the locality, which was clearly as prosperous in Roman times as it is today, and it is one of the most luxurious. The major Roman trunk road, the Fosse way, runs near to the villa.

Villas were country residences, ranging from simple farmhouses to luxurious mansions. Most villas shared a common style of building, and as well as being comfortable family homes were working farms, supplying the province with grain and produce.

The building of the villa at Chedworth covers several phases, each phase becoming grander than the previous one. The original house was built in the 1st half of the second century, and consisted of a number of buildings, including a bathhouse, which were later destroyed by fire. The house was rebuilt and extended early in the 3rd century, but it wasn't until the early 4th century that the house took on the form it is seen in today. The buildings were joined together with verandas, looking out over a range of formal gardens, and a second bath house was added.

Many mosaics were laid, not by Italian craftsmen, but by the local Cirencester workshop, and you can see one particularly fine example at the villa. A representation of the seasons, it contains many classical figures but the representation of Winter is distinctively British in feel. The figure is wearing a 'Birrus Britannicus', a hooded, woollen cloak, which was British national dress. Such a mosaic shows how the occupation did not lead to the indigenous culture being overwhelmed by Rome: Roman Britain evolved with its own distinctive culture, a blend of native and classical influences. A visit to somewhere like the British Museum in London or the nearby Corinium Museum in Cirencester provides more compelling evidence of this distinctive, hybrid culture.

Signposted from the village of Yanworth, north Cheltenham, Gloucestershire. Telephone 01242 890256 for opening times.