Discovering Places
Story Trails
The Common Space has a long history of publishing here on the Isle of Wight. Latest off the press are the Sandown Bay Story Trails.
The Sandown Bay Story Trails are three illustrated ‘Story Quest’ booklets, designed to promote literacy and activity and to help families explore together the natural and built world and heritage quite literally on their doorstep.
The trails were produced in partnership with the National Literacy Trust, based on the charity’s nationwide Story Quest initiative, with thanks to funding from Arts Council England and the National Lottery, Energise Me and Sport England, and in support of the Bay Community Action Resilience team.
We commissioned Island writers and illustrators, Zoe Sadler, Lucia Para and the Isle of Wight Story Festival team, Sue Bailey and Jules Marriner to work with us, choosing three familiar places, each in the public realm:
• Sandown Battery – a cliff-top scheduled building and Palmerston Fort, now home to the National Poo Museum, with public gardens, spectacular views of the AONB and access to Lake seashore and the Bay revetment.
• Browns Golf Course - an Art Deco tourist attraction, circled by our wetland and woodland nature trails, skirting the local play parks, seascape and our own Science Beach.
• Branstone Farm and the Biosphere Centre – a new development in the Arreton valley, designed by Arc specifically to support communities of wildlife, housing association residents and local businesses.
Free for all, the booklets and trails are completely different in design and format, but each aim to promote literacy in the natural world, celebrating the Biosphere, illuminating hyperlocal knowledge, not only overlooked but extraordinary wildlife but forgotten history and new possible futures. There are brilliant illustrations, quizzes, QR-linked stories and recordings, wildlife ID guides, ways to move and things to make, do or collect in each one!
Biosphere in the Bays
The trails were launched on location this summer as part of Biosphere in the Bays, an experimental festival of place led by the Isle of Wight AONB. Funded by Arts Council England, this successful programme is providing a showcase for a larger partnership-led bid for 2024 and beyond.
Where to find them…
All three trails are free to collect from Sandown Library, Boojum & Snark, Dinosaur Isle, the Wildheart Sanctuary, Branstone Biosphere Centre, Browns Golf Course and of course, the National Poo Museum!
If you can’t pick up a copy in person, don’t worry! Each trail can be downloaded online here, or on our Issuu page The Common Space.
We’d love to hear if you’ve enjoyed the trails. Share your adventures and photos and ideas for more, on social media using #StoryQuest #TheCommonSpace #IWBiosphere.
“We know that when young people think of reading, often they imagine sitting on their own with a book – and this doesn’t appeal to everyone. That’s why our Story Quests are so impactful – they encourage children and their families to see reading in a new light by exploring their community spaces and getting active.
It’s been a privilege to bring this initiative to the Isle of Wight and work with The Common Space to create story trails that celebrate the unique natural beauty and culture of the Island. Each story represents the area’s natural diversity which will inspire the local children to get into nature and be excited by reading. By nurturing these positive interactions with literacy-based activity, we can help children to develop the skills they need to succeed in life.”
Lois Bateman, National Literacy Trust
“Sandown Bay is no ordinary seaside place! It’s a Bay in a Biosphere – the Isle of Wight UNESCO Biosphere Reserve. It’s home to one hundred million years of wildlife from fossils and dinosaurs to seagrass and sea eagles. Then there are Roman villas, piers (here and past!) and cliff lifts, pitch & putts, tales of shipwrecks, origins of Darwin, National Poos and wartime derring-dos!”