Walking In Their Shoes: Introducing the Project

We are a group of 14 young people (aged 15 - 25, half with additional needs) who want to explore some ancient pathways of Dorset.

We will walk in the shoes of a Saxon pilgrim, St Aldhelm along this route.

The routes have been in use since the stone age but are rarely used by young people today. The project will create opportunities to explore the layers of history in the surrounding areas along the paths. By walking in the shoes of a Saxon pilgrim we will step out of our every-day lives on a physical and a reflective journey.

A GPS Geocache history treasure hunt will tempt young people and make learning history fun. We will be Geo-caching two parts of the route. One part will go from Hillfield Friary to Blackdown via Abbotsbury because it is steeped in historical clues in the landscape.

The other part, between Moreton and Bovington, follows a path that soldiers preparing for the First World War trained on.

One of our volunteers dressed up
as a WW1 soldier at Bovington Tank Museum
We know the Ist World War effects every
family in Dorset.

The group discussing partnership
with Bovington Tank Museum

How we are using Geocaching in our project

Geocache box

We will hide history treasure boxes along the route. In the cache boxes you will find written information and access digital information through QR codes about the best history stories we have discovered along our path. Also in the boxes there will be pilgrim shells for people to take on their journey and questions to inspire self- reflection en-route. People will be encouraged to respond to our questions in a journal or by texting our blog.

Our Geocache route will be available on the international Geocache website. We are also going to try and make our own app with the help of volunteers in our Microsoft Hub team. When our Geocache route is downloaded onto your phone or Geocache device you will see a map like this one >>.

It will lead you within one metre of our history treasure box.