One of England's best-known tourist sites is hoping to encourage tourists by making a film of the historic attraction.

Visitors to Hadrian's Wall will soon be able to get a bird's-eye view of its features in the movie.

Cash from the Heritage Lottery Fund will be spent on the special effects-laden film showing how the wall looks from the air.

The Vindolanda Trust will also use the �145,000 grant to convert part of Roman Army Museum into a cinema.

Part of the Vindolanda fort will become a cinema

Hadrian's Wall, which was designated a world heritage site in 1987, was hit hard by last year's foot-and-mouth outbreak.

Tourism officials are hoping that visitor numbers for 2002 will rise to the pre-outbreak annual figure of about 1.2 million.

A spokesman for the Vindolanda Trust said: "We are hoping what we're planning will allow more people to see the wall - particularly those who find it difficult to explore on foot.

"The Roman Army Museum - between Greenhead and Walltown Quarry - will be turned into a movie theatre.

"The new film will show helicopter views and there will also be a virtual reconstruction of the wall and the buildings associated with the Roman period."

The wall, built by the Emperor Hadrian in 122AD, spans 73 miles from Wallsend in North Tyneside to Bowness-on-Solway.

There are 10 forts and museums open to the public along the wall's length.