Sunday 10 April 2016

Whodunnit? Our Murder Mystery Trail around Newcastle

Whilst visiting friends from "Here Come The Hoopers" in Newcastle we embarked on a Treasure Trail around the Banks of the Tyne. These trail packs are available online for purchase and cost just £6.99 with £1.49 p&p for 1-3 trials (no additional charges for download and home printing other than the initial purchase cost) The pack comes with a booklet which contains information on what to do and where you should start. It gives an approximate duration (this one said 2.5 hours, it took us slightly longer at 3 hours.) and other useful bits of information you may need. This booklet is then inserted into a card sleeve and is packaged in a clear wallet to protect it until you go on your trail.


We started of at The Baltic Centre and began following the clues and solving the riddles. The children (aged 5-9 years) were excited to rush about finding the land markings to solve the clues and took turns in ticking off the answers.

The back page of the booklet had pictures with names or numbers which each clue related to. As you follow the Trail route and you solve the sneaky clues set on existing buildings, permanent features and monuments to eliminate the suspects to discover whodunnit? (think Cludo!) Some of the clues were easy to spot whereas others proved much more tricky! 
Al and Cat struggle to find a hidden clue!
Which we eventually found through the trees!
The answers were cleverly linked to the history and heritage of the area and encourages the participants to acknowledge their surroundings and to also enjoy the stunning views of the route, with historical landmarks and buildings. (They also lent opportunity for some lovely photos!)



The trail took us all over the area, up and down steps and slopes, although we are all able bodied the route may prove more difficult for some so worth investigating this before you purchase. The route is approximately 2 miles long so make sure you are wearing suitable footwear and perhaps you might want to take some refreshments with you (we just nipped in shops/cafes for drinks when we needed them.)


Don't worry if you get stuck as there is a text messaging service available to help you out, we didn't need this so I can't comment on this but nice to know there's back up if needed!

We finished off finding the last clue inside The Sage, I won't spoil it for you by saying where or who the culprit was as I sure you're wanting to find that out yourself. 

We were all glad for a sit down afterwards!
We've since found out that there are trials available for our local area, infact there are over 1000 available on the Treasure Trails website to either order for delivery or to download for fun that day, so make sure you check out what trails are near you. We are going to be purchasing some local ones soon and cannot wait to explore our area in a fun way and to introduce friends to the trails too.

Treasure Trails also has a facebook page which will give more information so make sure you follow them and take a look.


Thanks for reading and happy trailing!

Jaimexx







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