Explore to Plan - 4 weeks in
- andy9275
- Jan 30
- 3 min read
Explore to Plan – The Wonder Trail
There’s a quiet but powerful shift that happens in a project when curiosity starts turning into intention. This week, we crossed that threshold.
Our students have now completed the Explore phase of the Wonder Trail, immersing themselves in what it truly means to be a historian. They’ve been equipped with a rich toolkit: primary and secondary sources from the local museum and library, conversations with the people of Bruton, historical maps, online archives, and—most importantly—the sites themselves. History stopped being something written down and became something walked, questioned, noticed, and felt.
From curiosity to backbone
Students have been planning the physical walking route for the AR Wonder Trail—deciding on the backbone of the journey and identifying key historical sites such as the railway, the abbey, the mills, the high street, and beyond. Using Google My Maps, they’ve been plotting geolocations so each stop can trigger augmented reality content along the route. Watching them negotiate distance, flow, and narrative coherence has been a joy—this is planning with purpose.
What makes this moment even more exciting is the support of Sangeet (Grace’s dad), who is joining us on Wednesdays to bring AR and video expertise into the project. It feels powerful to show young people—and the wider community—how AI and emerging technologies can be used creatively, ethically, and positively to tell meaningful local stories.
Walking the story
On Tuesday afternoon, students walked the full route with Dave and Zanna. Cameras in hand, curiosity switched on, they began spotting their own micro-stories: whispers of witches, the old pharmacy, The Sun Inn pub, traces of clothing and jewellery trades. These weren’t set tasks—they emerged naturally once students slowed down and started looking properly.
Being historians (for real)
By Wednesday, students were back in their site groups, returning to the timelines they had built and re-examining their locations through the shared lenses of industry, trade, community, and religion. Across eight groups—mills, railway, schools, high street (hospital), dovecote, Bruton Abbey, packhorse bridge, and St Mary’s Church—focus levels were striking. If you watch the videos closely, you’ll notice students appearing and disappearing: some heading to the museum, others back out to sites, others arranging meetings with local people.
One standout moment was watching Jeff and Dave working alongside Alf to track down the locations of other mills in Bruton. Old records revealed there were once six mills, and Alf was almost worn out keeping up as they tried to find them all. This is history at its best: part detective, part researcher, part adventurer.
Designing for the public
In the afternoon, students split into specialist groups. Some worked with Zanna, using their drawing talents to design custom icons for the interactive map. Others dug deeper into their own micro-stories, while a separate group refined the route itself—checking distances, ensuring accessibility for all, and making sure the narrative flows clearly for a public audience while staying rooted in industry, trade, religion, and community.
Stepping towards Do
Next week, we move decisively towards the Do phase. Students will continue developing their site narratives and micro-stories, designing the AR route through storyboarding—thinking carefully about presentations, video, oral histories, artefacts, people, and pivotal events. The route-planning group will also head out on a walking tour with experts such as Dr Andrew Pickering, gathering further insight and stories to enrich the trail.
There’s a real sense now that this work matters—not just to the students, but to Bruton itself. Learning is happening everywhere: in the streets, in conversations, in archives, and in moments of shared discovery.
All go. So much learning.And to parents and the wider community: you have an open invitation to come and join us on the trail.
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