I love doing treasure trails. They’re great for exploring places, help make a walk more interesting, work well for a variety of ages and are great value for money. With my twin sister and two nieces (aged 14 and 12) visiting, a treasure trail made for an ideal day out. We’ve done a couple of treasure trails before when my nieces have come to stay. Our previous trails have seen us explore Chalfont St Peter and Great Missenden. This time we decided to explore Eton with a treasure trail.
Our task was to find the location of Old Etonian Bert E. Worcester’s wallet which had been hidden in one of the locations on the treasure map. As we walked around Eton, we needed to look for the answers to the clues to help us eliminate other locations on the map.
We parked near Windsor & Eton Riverside station and headed over the bridge into Eton High Street, looking out for clues along the way. Ebony, the eldest of my two nieces, was carrying Thomas in the sling. The girls were enjoying getting to have lots of cuddles with their new cousin. I think had I not been breastfeeding, I would have hardly got to hold him myself during their visit!
The clues on the treasure trail sheet are interspersed with directions on which paths to take, when to cross the road and details of landmarks passed along the way. This is always useful for helping you realise if you’ve missed a clue along the way. We had to retrace our steps a couple of times due to not spotting clues. Most of them were quite straightforward to solve. You can text a number to find the answers to up to three clues if you are struggling. We used this once to double-check a clue that we weren’t sure we’d got the correct answer to.
We’d packed a picnic but there weren’t really any suitable places to stop for the first part of the trail. Sophie was getting grumpy due to being hungry so we stopped along the High Street for some ice cream which helped to restore good tempers for a while.
By the time we’d left the main roads and headed down the public footpath into the college grounds, the effects of the ice-cream we’re starting to wear off. It wasn’t the best location for a picnic but we stopped for a while anyway. Within a few minutes though, our picnic had attracted the attention of the wasps and so we decided to quickly move on. Sophie was happier for having had a few bites of sandwich at least.
Past the playing fields and over a bridge, we stopped again for a second attempt at our picnic. Thomas was getting hungry at this point too. As I was just settling down to feed him, a very wet, very muddy, very friendly dog came bounding over to us to say hello. He was clearly quite interested in our picnic and somewhat oblivious to his owner’s attempts to call him away. Eventually he did head off with his owner but not before having a good shake and sharing mud splatters with us. Thankfully Thomas and I managed to avoid getting any mud splatters on us but the girls weren’t quite so lucky! We did manage to finish our picnic without any further interruptions once the dog and his owner had gone!
The walk around the college was quite interesting. The girls spotted a few doors with “Boys’ Entrance” signs and wondered where the “Girls’ Entrance” signs were. They hadn’t realised that Eton was an all-boys school, or that it was a boarding school. They had quite a few questions as a result of some of the things they spotted along the way which we ended up having to look up the answers to later on. I love how walks like this often make you learn new things.
Towards the end of the trail, we spotted a gold telephone box. This was painted gold in 2016 in honour of ex-Eton pupil Constantine Louloudis who won Olympic gold in Rio as part of the men’s coxless four team. I wish I’d known about this phone box a couple of years ago. We spent three years visiting all the Olympic and Paralympic gold postboxes plus the gold telephone box on the Isle of Man and the two gold lock gates on the River Thames. Hubby and Jessica are in the photos with all of them. I would have loved to have added a photo of hubby and Jessica at this one to our collection.
The trail route took us back to the High Street where we found our final clue and solved the puzzle. We submitted our answer online which entered us into a monthly prize draw for a chance to win £100.
On our way back to the car, we also managed to find a geocache. It was the first time my nieces had come across geocaching. Maybe that’s an activity to try the next time they come to stay.
Oh what a lovely idea! I’ve never heard of a treasure hunt but it would be ideal for us too, thanks for the suggestion.
Nat.x
There are lots of them all over the country so you’re bound to find one near you x
Sounds like a great treasure hunt and good that you get entered in the prize draw. Sorry to hear about the picnic attempts. My mummy got stung by a wasp last weekend so know how pesky they can be! Popping over from #countrykids
Oh no, your poor mummy. Hope it wasn’t sore for too long x
Treasure hunts are great fun – you should try geocaching too, as that’s always a great way of finding new places and interesting facts about them 🙂 Your comment about the gold post box made me smile wistfully – we are just back from our first holiday without my husband, who passed away in April. The holiday was booked with him and it seemed strange for him not to be in the photos. xxx
I’m so sorry for the loss of your husband – I can imagine it must have been hard for you not having him there on your holiday and having to make those new memories without him. Sending a virtual hug your way x
I’ve never thought to follow a trail in a new place. It’s a great idea and perfect for giving a sense of purpose to your walk. You were unlucky with your picnic spots but it looks like the cousins are going to be best of friends, Thomas looks very content in all your photos. The girls comment on the “Boys” signs in the college made me smile. #CountryKids
I love seeing how the cousins interact together and how good the big girls are with my children. The trail is such a good way of making the walk more interesting and works well across the different age groups
We’ve never tried a treasure trail but it does sound like a great way to explore Eton. We’ve never done geocaching either. I’m glad all the children enjoyed it. #countrykids
Treasure trails and geocaching are such good fun and a brilliant way of making a walk more interesting, especially when you’ve got a wider age range to keep amused 🙂
Trails are great for exploring areas. We’ve done two as a couple but have yet to do any with the girls. #CountryKids
They’re great with slightly older children. Sophie is a little on the young side to be able to follow the instructions although Jessica was just about able to do so when we did one with both the girls last year.
Never know anywhere do a treasure hunt like this but how brilliant places do it, what a great ideafor the tourists if it points out all the interesting sights.
I was going to say adding geocaching to this would have added another dimension till I see you adding that at the bottom. One or the other is enough as I suppose what you did like caching is time consuming.
How lovely they wanted to carry Thomas, made it easier for you in these early days.
Such a shame Jessica is not here to be in the photographs anymore, but nice you still took a picture in front. Very bitter sweet.
Sophie did well for only 4.
Thank you. Trying to do both was a bit much – it was hard to keep track of any along the trail so we just found the one on the way back. The treasure trails are available online and there are lots of different ones across the UK
Sounds like a great way to spend the day. We have an Austin Amazing Scavenger Hunt Adventure that sounds a bit similar to this but it costs $40 to access the app/map. We have not gone on it, yet.
That sounds like fun. These trails cost about £7 each to download which I think is good value for a day out.