By Mark Green

Last updated 10:52, Friday, 27 June 2008

Linda Tuttiet reaches into her car to swap her summer sandals for a pair of boots so she can pose for our Hadrian’s Wall photoshoot.

Hadrian’s Wall Heritage Ltd chief executive Linda Tuttiett at Birdoswald

A couple of thousand years ago it was Roman legionnaires who swapped their sandals for sturdier footwear – something more appropriate for the weather and the countryside of the Border region.

They marched in their squadrons, intent on policing the Picts and keeping the lid on a lawless land.

Invaders from Europe are still pouring into the area and poring over the ancient stones. These days they are more concerned with conquering a coffee and a cake in the cafe.

A coachload of caped travellers from Rotterdam spill out of their coach and flood over the remains of the day when Rome ruled.

As Linda poses by the monument to Emperor Hadrian’s all-conquering greatness, the tourists take in the site.

She is chief executive of Hadrian’s Wall Heritage Ltd and it is her job to make sure that the Dutch – and the Americans, Japanese, French, German... and even Brits, make a point of visiting the wall.

And not just one part of it.

While the Wall is an English Heritage site, her organisation has to ‘sell’ the landmark.

Some half a million people visit the sites along the wall each year, with around nine million touring the region around the monument.

Hadrian’s rugged and bearded profile has been raised higher than ever this year, thanks to the British Museum loaning a bronze bust of the emperor for a special display at Tullie House museum, in Carlisle. Next month the bronze will be the centrepiece of this year’s big exhibition at the British Museum focusing on the emperor.

Linda is expecting it to provide a major boost in visitor numbers.

She’s got an impressive track record for making people come and visit.

Her big grin is never far away and words like ‘brilliant’, ‘fabulous’ and ‘beautiful’ spring up as she talks about her job.

You get the impression she could turn a hole in the road into a tourist attraction.

Carlisle-born Linda started in the business 25 years ago.

As the daughter of a Staff Sergeant in the Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers she was introduced to foreign countries at a young age, living in Malaya between the age of five and eight and twice moving to Germany.

Going to school at St Aidan’s gave her a love of the outdoors, thanks to teachers like the transatlantic rower Tim Bradbury.

“The school bought an old school in Little Langdale and we would go for a week in the summer and went out fell walking every day. It was a fantastic experience.”

After studying maths and psychology at Liverpool University, she travelled round the Middle East, Egypt and Europe for a year, then landed a summer job... working for Carlisle tourist board at Southwaite Services.

She had thought about working as an educational psychologist, but her year of travel convinced her to make a career of it.

After spending the winter working for Cumbria Tourist Board, the 23-year-old landed a job with the British Tourist Authority and moved to London.

She was appointed to represent youth travel and has spent most of her career selling Britain internationally, working in all of the continents, heading up departments and setting up divisions before returning to England to launch the Enjoy England division of the Tourist Authority.

“It was the first time in 10 years that England had been marketed domestically,” she says.

Linda was living in Durham with partner Stan Abbott and grown-up step-daughters Hannah and Izzy and after two years, the hours spent commuting to London took their toll.

“It was tiring. I would leave at 5am on Monday morning, stay in London until Thursday or Friday, then travel back.

“I really wanted to live and work in the north of England.” She spent two years as director of external relations for the Arts Council England North East, before taking charge of the company responsible for the marketing, preservation and conservation of the World Heritage Site in January last year.

“It is on a par with Stonehenge and I always thought it could be developed more and that more people should come,” she explains.

“It was something I felt I could do and make a real difference with, partly because I know how to position things internationally.”

There is also a big UK market to aim at as well, with the Wall rated fourth as a ‘must see’ part of England, close behind the Lake District, the Cotswolds and the New Forest, according to a recent survey of Brits.

Linda reasons: “Cumbria has room for two major brands and we can improve the appeal of the north and west of the county.

“Having the Lake District and Hadrian’s Wall country as major destinations would broaden the appeal of Cumbria and would not take people out of the Lake District.

“We want to get the different sites along the wall to work together so you are directed to other sites that you might be interested in and see how it is all connected up and part of the frontier system.

“We want it to be the place in Britain to come and learn your Roman history.”

The development of Carlisle airport would be a major boost for the region: “It would be really, really helpful.

“And it would position Cumbria really well in terms of the business opportunities.

“It is a subliminal thing, if people see that there is an airport, they think there is a reason to visit the area.

“It adds importance and accessibility.”

Her free time is usually spent walking the fells and moors of the north Pennines with Stan, or crossing over to walk in the Lake District.

Holidays are spent visiting friends and family in Britain , Canada and Australia, though she admits she always notes how a particular area promotes itself.

On a trip to Jersey she noted how the island had revamped how it told the story of its Nazi occupation and introduced first-person recollections.

“It is important that we begin to tell the stories of the Romans who were here – of what life was like for people on the wall, what they thought and felt.”

In the meantime, she is aiming to make the most of the London exhibition. “It is an amazing opportunity to really build a profile for this part of the world on the back of a major international exhibition.”