Drift Away With Cloudwatching Week At Housesteads

Housesteads Roman Fort Cloudwatching Week English Heritage has teamed up with the Cloud Appreciation Society to present a series of special Cloudwatching Weeks at Housesteads Roman Fort throughout the summer. 

Visitors to the site will be encouraged to stretch out on the grass as they watch cloud formations drift above the hills and crags of Hadrian’s Wall country. Bring along the kids and a picnic as you gaze into the sky, making shapes from the clouds above.

Each week there is a copy of bestselling book The Cloudspotter’s Guide to be won –ask site staff for details. This is the Cloud Appreciation Society’s inaugural publication and introduces the different characters in the cloud family. It reveals – among other things - what they say about the weather, why aeroplanes leave trails and how contemplation of clouds can benefit the soul.

Gavin Pretor-Pinney is the author of The Cloudspotter’s Guide and founder of the Cloud Appreciation Society, which now has 7,400 members in 42 countries around the world. He said: “In Britain we are blessed with a uniquely rich and varied cloudscape, which is sadly undervalued. The Cloudspotter’s Guide aims to help people appreciate the different varieties of clouds such as the cumulus, nimbostratus and Morning Glory and realise their significance, both meteorological and cultural.”

Richard Polley from English Heritage said: “Most of our Hadrian’s Wall sites are surrounded by dramatic landscapes and big skies. This is especially true of Housesteads. When you sit on top of the hill and look out at the vast landscape you feel a million miles away. Cloudwatching Week is a great excuse to take the kids along to this ancient site and get them spotting clouds or simply just to get away from it all for a few hours.”

Cloud Watching weeks will take place on the second week of June (11-17) and the first week of July (1-8) and August (1-8).   For more information, please call the site on 01434 344363.

For a full list of English Heritage sites, admission prices and opening times, visit www.english-heritage.org.uk/properties