We love a public art trail and have been lucky to explore many of them in London where we live. When I heard about the Moor Otters Trail I knew we would have to go and find out more. My daughters favourite animal is otters and it seemed the perfect family activity whilst we were in Devon.
Exploring the Moor Otters trail
The Moor Otters Trail consists of 81 stunning sculptures of otters with cubs – all designed and decorated by local and national artists – who are spending this summer with businesses, community groups and in public areas across Dartmoor, in Plymouth and in gateway towns and villages.
The otter sculptures are divided into four art trails as well as a Gateway Trail and Mayflower Trail. We had already planned a weekend in south Devon. You can pick up a printed trail map from one of the National Park Visitor Centres or download a map from the website.
We also got our hands on an Otter Spotter Passport which contained details on each sculpture.
During our trip to Devon we were able to visit some of the Gateway otters which are situated in the towns and villages around the edge of Dartmoor, as well as some of the otters on Trail 4 as we visited the National Park Visitor Centre at Haytor and walked up to the Haytor Rocks. We found the sculptures easy to find and my daughter loved ticking them off in her passport.
The Trail ends on Sunday 19th September so you have plenty of time to grab a copy of the trail and get otter hunting!
You may be interested in these other posts about public art trails:
The Herd of Hope, Old Spitalfields Market
Scenes in the Square, Leicester Square
Walking with the Snowman, London Bridge City
Leake Street Graffiti Tunnel, York Road, Waterloo
Colourwalk around Notting Hill, London
I love these sorts of trails where you’re out to spot all of a selection of things, the last one I remember seeing were those painted cows in Birmingham (I think) x
They are so much fun to do – and free!
I love these sculpture trails as well. I remember one in Birmingham about five years ago (Owls) and another in Chester a bit further back (Rhinos). Typically at the end they auction off the sculptures for charity, so it’s win/win all round.