Tales & Trails for Bridgend Council

Winner! Welsh Design Awards 2011

In order to encourage tourism to rural Bridgend, reach as part of Bridgend County Borough Council set out to tell stories of the local area. The stories needed to incorporate events and points of interest from within the region to inform associated walking trails.

In addition to bringing families to Kenfig and the Llynfi, Garw and Ogmore Valleys to explore, the stories, aimed at 6-11 year olds needed to act as a stand-alone reading resource that children and their parents could enjoy together.

The collection of stories written in English and Welsh were named ‘Tales & Trails’ and ‘Dere am Dro’ respectively to reflect the walking trails developed as part of the project. A wise old owl was chosen as a visual identity for the stories which allowed us to explore different places and times in Bridgend’s history. There are strong personalities within the stories and the whole family unit is depicted to ensure a broad appeal.

Activities that link with points of interest along the trails both inform and engage families. Further online resources include downloadable audio versions of the stories that we created and additional activities that local schools can use as educational material. Visit www.talesandtrails.co.uk or www.dereamdro.co.uk

Ieuan Sherwood of Bridgend Council says ´We are delighted with the collection of stories. They have been wonderfully written and beautifully illustrated and thanks to their experience in publishing, Stills were a valuable member of the project team. We can´t wait to launch Tales & Trails to the public.´