A museum about the Romans has been forced to tone down a 2,000-year-old smell after it caused schoolchildren to vomit.

Four pupils were overcome by the smell - called Flatulence - when they visited the museum in Chester.

The smell was coming from an AD 90 Roman latrine' feature at the Dewa Roman Experience.

But even after the man-made aroma was toned down by its manufacturers, a further two pupils threw up after smelling it.

...the smell was still so overpowering that unfortunately four children vomited Christine Turner, Dewa Roman Experience

Museum staff insist the smell's strength is now healthy, if not pleasant.

Christine Turner, from the museum, said: "The company that makes our smells for us told us that they had a new smell come in, called 'Flatulence'.

"Obviously we were tempted to use this smell for our latrine.

"We used it on the Friday, it was incredibly powerful, but we assumed that over the weekend it would get more diluted with the air coming into the centre.

"However on the Monday when we had a couple of classes of schoolchildren visit the centre the smell was still so overpowering that unfortunately four children vomited."

The smells are used to make the museum more realistic and bring Roman Britain back to life.

They are made by mixing a cocktail of harmless chemicals.