Creating magical memories
“The concept behind the Loch Lomond Faerie Trail was a re-invigoration of an old walking path through the woods around Luss. Instead of just maintaining the status quo, the team at Luss Estates brought to life a faerie-themed treasure hunt with wooden elements pitched squarely at families.”
A gem of an idea.
We at Luss Estates were conscious of the need to develop creative ideas for our ‘quarry path’ when its responsibility returned to the Estate after a number of years of maintenance by Loch Lomond & Trossachs National Park (LLNTP) as they were no longer in a position to maintain it. Our initial thoughts focused on ways in which to generate a small annual income for the trail in order to re-invest each year to its up-keep. Although it is a public path, the estate has a civic duty to make it accessible in a safe way.
If you go down to the woods today…
The trail really came to life once we had secured a partner with whom we could generate creative ideas. We were familiar with the Gruffalo trail near Strachur and initially set out to secure a book license on similar terms to create a trail-based version of a popular story. It was a meeting with Brilliant Trails that convinced the team to go ahead with a Faerie Trail concept, something already very popular in Ireland and Scotland; whilst we were initially cautious, it became very clear this would be a popular theme.
Concept & Design.
We engaged with Brilliant Trails to produce designs for the trail. Our content was developed further by the creative team who worked on our printed materials and website. Additionally we built a booking system from the ground up, utilising the Fareharbor ticket platform to promote advance sales.
The Brilliant Trails team had an expert wood-carver at their disposal. Having successfully built a trail at Galgorm, NI, he spent a week in Luss constructing all the wooden elements that can be seen around the trail.
The content for our maps was developed in-house. We wanted to add an element of interactivity to the trail, so we developed a clue-based treasure hunt with a final answer revealed at the end of the trail if all clues are collected. The end-point for our trail is the Luss General Store where families can collect a certificate of completion.