Why a walk with a story stays with you

Think of the walks you remember. Probably not the ones that were simply pleasant. More likely the one where someone told you the house on the corner was once a smugglers' inn, or that the bumpy field was a medieval village, or that the pier you were standing on had burned down twice.

A place with a story feels bigger than it looks. Once you know it, you never see that street the same way again.

Places are full of stories

Every town has them. A church built from stone carried across the Channel. A street named after a trade that disappeared two hundred years ago. A plaque on a wall where a famous writer lived for one summer. Most of us walk straight past.

You don't need to travel far to explore. You need to know what you're looking at.

How to find the stories near you

• Read the plaques. Blue plaques and parish signs are short and often surprising.
• Visit the local museum first. Even a small one will change how you see the town.
• Ask a local. Pub landlords, shopkeepers and volunteers at the church often know the best stories.
• Look at old maps. Comparing a Victorian map with today's shows what has gone and what has survived.

Hear the story at the place it happened

The best moment to hear a story is when you are standing in the spot where it happened. That is the idea behind Route Stories. A narrator tells you about each place as you reach it, with original music in between, so your eyes stay on the view and not on a screen.

Each route also sounds different. The stories, the voice and the music are made for that route alone. Start with one of our routes in Kent, or upload a route you already love, and we'll make the stories for it.