What is colourful, creative and has you visit a number of places from a funeral parlour to a private airport? The answer is The Cotswold Hare trail.
What have the Romans done for us?
Rumour has it that when the Romans invaded Cirencester they let loose many hares. One of these is depicted on a mosaic at the Corinium Museum. As the mosaic is in the foyer eagle eyed hare spotters get to see it for free as well as track down one of many modern day interpretations. The girls may well have been oblivious to the history lesson but they were very happy to catch sight of the hare.
We're going on a hare hunt
Hop forward to 2013 in Cirencester and the first modern art hare hunt trail came into fruition with hares popping up in 2014 in the area. Over the years the number of hares has multiplied and spread across the Cotswolds. There are now over 130 hares in total to find. Each one with their own unique code and individually painted. These hares will eventually go on to be auctioned off with the hope that lots of money will be raised for charity. It is possible to download and print off spotter sheets for these beautiful models back at home but we also noticed that leaflets were available at participating venues.
Hare Today Gone Tomorrow
On our travels we met many lovely people who helped us to find the hares and their codes. They seemed equally excited by them and proud to show them off. There was the odd person who was confused by us and I think one may have thought I'd chatted them up! For I mentioned I liked their hare. We soon learnt that many of the hares had already been bid upon and were said to be worth thousands of pounds! And when I mentioned I'd spotted moose that were similar a log time ago in Canada they told of how one person had told them they'd done loads in the UK including spotting Wolves in Wolves and Owls around Bath. I have also noticed the wonderful Aardman Creations in Bristol popping up on people's feeds. My daughters have yet to be introduced to Timmy and Shaun's fellow friends so one for later I think.
Overall the girls and I have enjoyed hunting down the hare. Living outside the Cotswolds I'm not sure we will find them all but we've certainly enjoyed the adventure.
Have you ever done an art trail like this?
We once did the Zany Zebras in Southampton but they were nothing like this! The Hares look amazing! Glad you had a good time #CountryKids x
ReplyDeleteThis looks fabulous - I need to investigate if there are any trails in our local area. We love geocaching and this has very similar appeal :) #countrykids
ReplyDeleteThe hare trail sounds a lovely way to get around the area and your write up is lovely and entertaining. Who knew hare hunting was a good chat up opportunity! #CountryKids
ReplyDeleteI love these hares. We have bees in Manchester currently. I think my daughter's would love them. #countrykids
ReplyDeleteYes I have seen various other trails popping up on peoples time lines. Anything that encourages people to get out and about is good in my book. Not to mention some history thrown in.
ReplyDeleteThe artists are very talented. Glad you enjoyed the day.
Looks like a fun hare hunt. We have painted cows in Texas. #countrykids
ReplyDeleteI love trails like this, they’re such fun to do. We’ve done a few of these over the years and the girls loved them. I love the mosaic hare and the colourful hare sculptures. It sounds like you all had fun looking for them. #CountryKids
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