HISTORY
UNCOVER SECRET STORIES
with Ordnance Survey
W
ith the colder months fast approaching, it’s important for everyone’s mental and physical health to remain active and get out and about as much as possible. The next idea from Ordnance Survey to help keep the family going outdoors this winter is the new Secret Stories app, which is currently available across Sussex. Many walkers in Sussex will be familiar with Ordnance Survey’s iconic orange OS Explorer paper maps, long trusted as an essential tool for exploring local areas or venturing off the beaten track. Yet increasingly over the last few years, more and more outdoor enthusiasts have turned to their phone or laptop to plot their routes. In 2015, OS launched its OS Maps App. It gives users the opportunity to plot routes using a 3D viewer and download every OS Explorer (1:25,000 scale) and OS Landranger (1:50,000 scale) map across the whole of Great Britain. That’s access to over 600 maps in the palm of your hand. The Secret Stories app is free to download and brings Sussex to life, with each
Want to know where to find the mysterious skeleton of a Tudor house with a dark and fiery past? Or the devil’s grave in the longest ‘dry valley’ in the UK? If you do, then you need the Secret Stories app writes David Jones and Camilla Dowson from the Ordnance Survey self-guided tour revealing a diverse and interesting mixture of folklore, celebrity, history and myth as you follow the route around. Every Secret Stories tour varies, but can contain a mixture of audio clips, images, challenges, puzzles, teasers and directions to help you immerse yourself in each location as you move from story to story. On Sussex’s Most Haunted Tour, families will discover breath-taking panoramic views and rare wildlife on one of the most notorious hills of the South Downs, while hearing ghost stories and learning about rare UFO sightings. You’ll certainly get your daily steps in by climbing up Chanctonbury Hill and marvelling at the intriguing ‘ring’ of trees which stands atop an ancient Bronze Age defence outpost.
In the heart of the Ashdown Forest, there’s the Old Lodge Loop Walking Tour to follow. Discover the beautiful surroundings of heather, grassland and clumps of gorse, along with birch and oak trees. There are also areas of Scots Pine where Coal Tit and Goldcrest sing their thin, tinkling calls, and there’s also a good chance of
spotting a Crossbill. On the Choo-Choo, ChinChin, Chiffchaff Walking Tour, near East Grinstead, take a scenic stroll through the Kingscote Valley. Walkers can experience this peaceful and picturesque corner of the High Weald Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, which was once the busy, noisy, smoky heart of Britain’s iron-making industry. With rocks to climb and trains to spot while
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