Just over five years ago my husband and I discovered Treasure Trails being sold at Westonbirt Arboretum. We bought one for the nearby village of Tetbury and gave it a whirl over his birthday; he’s been hooked ever since.
The trail consists of a brochure with clues to solve and directions to follow that take you around points of interest in an area. It’s a great way to see things you might not otherwise notice when visiting a new place, or it can help you see a familiar patch in a new light. Each has a different theme or story—for example a murder mystery or spy mission—that is woven throughout. If you answer all the clues correctly, you will be left with an answer that you can submit into a monthly prize draw.
For his birthday this year he chose to for us to visit Winchester: a historic city and a gorgeous cathedral in the first flush of spring. What’s not to love, especially for two keen photographers? He was, however, slightly overambitious in picking a 4.5 mile trail advertised as taking 3-4 hours to complete. After nearly two hours spent just visiting the cathedral, it was looking increasingly unlikely that we would finish or even make it halfway through the trail. Indeed, we only made it to Clue 8 of 19 (and we didn’t even manage to solve all eight!).
Yet we still had a wonderful time: the trails are a good reminder that it’s all about the journey, not the destination. Here are a few things we saw along the way …
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