How do you learn about the world’s first railway town that has now been absorbed by the 1960s new town of Milton Keynes? Why, download the MK Trails app of course!

“Imagine a geometric pattern of raw, red brick, made up of long straight streets of terraced houses criss-crossing each other…the whole plumped down in the middle of gently undulating green fields and cornlands…and you have a rough bird’s eye view of my home town, Wolverton”

Greta Barker, Buckinghamshire Born

A town of modest red brick terraces, Wolverton is nevertheless unique as the world’s first ‘railway town’. It was built by the London and Birmingham Railway Company in the 1830s to house its workshops and workers.

Welcome To…Milton Keynes

Working with Milton Keynes Living Archive and Wolverton and Greenleys Town Council, Audio Trails have developed a smartphone app based upon their Welcome To…Native app software. The MK Trails: Wolverton app guides visitors and locals around some … Read More »

A location-aware (iOS & Android) app taking you to the sites that inspired the creative talents of revered artists such as JW Turner and Sir Walter Scott.

The Heart of Teesdale (HoT) Landscape Partnership is a Heritage Lottery funded (HLF) project based in Barnard Castle in Teesdale and hosted by Durham County Council.

Features

Audio Trails was commissioned to develop an app that showcases:

– the cultural heritage of local artists, such as Turner and Cotman, and writers, such as Walter Scott

– modern artistic heritage through HoT’s Teesdale Viewmarkers project -12 modern viewmarkers placed in the landscape, and the rich (sometimes gruesome) history of Barnard Castle.

The app also contains:

– Maps and directions for 11 walking trails of varying distance and themes, with GPS tracking

– Fascinating information about historic and cultural places of interest that make Teesdale unique

– A focus on music and dialect and the importance of place … Read More »

The Forest of Dean’s heritage is no longer a fading memory.

Through the power of amazing imagery, the Hidden Heritage of the Dean iOS and Android app reveals the area’s rich industrial past that was in danger of being lost forever.

In 2015 Audio Trails was commissioned by a group of passionate local historians with a life-long love of the area’s gritty past to develop an app. Bob Smith was one of those Foresters,

“As an eight year old I used to wonder around the Forest looking for signs of its mining and rail past. I felt strongly for the last 20 years that our real heritage was being obliterated, hidden and lost in pursuit of the Forest being turned into an adventure park.”

With the help of an interactive 1920s Ordnance Survey map, the GPS-triggered app guides visitors along the Forest of Dean’s ‘Family cycle trail’ – the former Severn and … Read More »

Last month I went to France with my family and during the last week of our holiday we explored the Western Front – the scene of horrific and bloody frontline conflicts during World War 1.

Firstly we went to Verdun. The village of Fleury, or at least its pockmarked remains, were very poignant. During the war it was completely destroyed and the land was made uninhabitable to such an extent that a decision was made not to rebuild it. The area was so contaminated by corpses, explosives and poisonous gas that no farmer could work the land. Today only stones mark the location of each building and the occupation of its owner.

Having headed west to the Somme I was moved by the massive crater we found at La Boiselle (feature image courtesy of Georges Vandenbulke © 2011). A mine had been … Read More »

Dig into Cornwall’s mining past with seven new audio trails launched by the Cornish Mining World Heritage Site. The chance to explore the explosive past of a Wildlife Trust reserve and what was once the richest square mile in the world are just two of the stories on offer.

Narrated by miners, historic experts and actors, listeners are transported back to a landscape that told a very different story. The MP3 downloads are accompanied by maps, Delve Deeper and children’s activity sheets, ensuring there is something to engage every visitor.

Download the Cornwall audio trails from www.cornish-mining.org.uk/audio-trails.

“We worked with Audio Trails to produce 7 audio trails across the Cornish Mining World Heritage Site. They also produced downloadable children’s activity sheets to go alongside the audio trails, which was a bonus. The voiceovers sounded professional and the trails are easy to navigate and … Read More »