Taking Charge

Having time to reflect on our trail ideas, I wasn’t sure how effective they would be. I am no expert on trails, but my experience of publishing has taught me that things should be as simple and concise as possible. Having three separate trails on different bits of paper can become confusing, not only for visitors but for the staff as well. This would not meet one of the key criteria set – trails should be self directed.  Another issue is that each trail is designed for a different age group, I felt that having them separate may be restricting, particularly for younger children if they don’t feel they can participate, and we want avoid tantrums where possible!

The ideas we had come up with were good, but needed pulling together into one publication that can be accessible to all ages. I took the initiative to sketch out ideas (see below) of how we could present the different trails together in a fun, creative and engaging way.

I proposed my idea to Hannah and Clare in an email, where I clearly detailed the format of the leaflet and how the trails would  work. They both really liked my idea and we arranged to meet up after the Christmas break to discuss in more detail.

National Trust Audience Categorise

The National Trust have put time and effort into creating specific audience categories as they have cleverly realised that people are different  – they enjoy and expect different things. Their categories have been established by looking at peoples motivations and mindset for visiting places. In total there’re seven audience categories:

• Young Explorer Seekers
• Live Life to the Full
• Curious Minds
• Out & About
• House & Family
• Kids First Families
• Explorer Families

Max Gate and Hardy Country mostly attract Curious Minds (59%) then Out & About (19%) then Explorer Families (10%). The National Trust have created very helpful PDFs (see below) which have helped me to understand the people behind these categories. It would be great to attract more people from the latter categories (Out & About and Explorer Families), we will consider these characters heavily when creating the house and garden trails.

A Visit to Max Gate

Today the team got on a mini bus and made the trip down to Dorchester to visit Max Gate. It was nice to re-visit  the property and see the staff members again.

We were given the opportunity to look around the house and also meet with Jennifer, the house manager. She presented us with a full brief and criteria that we must follow throughout the project.  This was really helpful and cleared up a few confusions the team had, in particular the location of the trails. Jennifer asked that we restrict the trails to the house grounds; this would be safer and not encourage people wander into the Dorset landscape, it made sense! See below the brief which we were given.

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Hardy country project

National trust and bath Spa University, 2012-2013

Project Brief

 

Project summary

This project has been designed to provide BSU students with direct involvement in designing and producing a range of materials and / or activities for the National Trust at Max Gate, Dorchester, which will help enhance the visitor experience as the house is refurbished and redevelopment as part of the Trust’s portfolio. 

These materials will consist of:

• A trail or series of trails around the house and garden at Max Gate, designed for the Trust’s target audiences (Curious Minds, Explorer Families, and Out and About);
• A family activity linked to these trails, to take place during spring half-term, 2013;
• An event or activity aimed at attracting young people (18-24 year olds – a ‘hard to reach’ group’) to the property and encouraging them to engage them more broadly in the work of the Trust.

Key criteria

• You can design and produce a single trail exploring the house and garden, or a series of themed trails, available in print and / or digitally. The trails must be self-directed; and should be designed to be used with minimal intervention by Trust staff and volunteers on a day-to-day basis (e.g. the Trust will reprint them, but should not have to update or revise the trails in the short to medium-term);
• The trail may take a variety of forms (e.g. letters or snippets of information to be discovered; objects to find), but the connection with Hardy and the house must be clear throughout;
• The trails must follow NT branding in the use of the logo and the Trust’s font (these will be supplied);
• Planned events are normally expected to cover their costs, so it will be necessary to think carefully about any materials used and whether a charge will be needed;
• Events can take place during the day when the house is open or in the evening; 
• A series of Hardy lectures is already planned for the first two weeks of June 2013, so it is recommended that lectures are not included as part of this project – poetry readings, storytelling or performance might be more attractive options;
• Simple marketing materials will be prepared as part of the project: posters to advertise any events locally; press releases for the local press; online entries;
• You must prepare a single page briefing sheet for NT volunteers which explains what you are doing and which ‘sells’ the project to them;
• Printing and production costs will be met by the Trust, but must be agreed in advance with the Visitor Services Manager;
• As well as agreeing the budget with the Trust for producing any materials or activities, you must agree visits to the house with BSU in advance. There is a budget to cover travel expenses but this is fixed, so careful planning and delegation will be essential to ensure that you can remain within it.  

Potential partners 

The Trust already has good contacts with the following people and organisations:

• The New Hardy Players 
• Tim Laycock (NHP director, performer)
• The Hardy Society
• St Oswald’s Middle School

All of the above may be helpful in developing both the trails and the events. Let the Trust know before you contact them for the first time, and make sure that you keep them ‘in the loop’ as these conversations develop.

Deadlines

These deadlines provide the framework in which you will need to prepare a detailed project plan. 

11 January 2013 Initial response to the brief – outline proposals presented to the Trust (at BSU)

8 February 2013 Final proposals presented to the Trust and a representative of the Hardy Society (at BSU)

5 April 2013 Final copy for marketing materials to Trust for formal sign off

26 April 2013 Final copy for trails to Trust for formal sign off

10 May 2013 Final PDF to printers

24 May 2013 Print delivery to Max Gate

26 May-2 June 2013 Half-term week (NB the house is open all week, except Tuesday)

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Whilst in Dorchester we also took a quick visit to the Dorset County Museum. Thomas Hardy is quite a celebrity in Dorchester, so of course part of the Museum was dedicated to him! On his death, Hardy’s wife Florence donated the furniture from his study to the museum, it was interesting to view this.

All in all it was a very productive day and I left with a better understanding of what the Trust were expecting us to produce. I was still struggling to connect with the team, but knew I must persevere.

Meeting The Team

Today I met the team who I would be working with on the National Trust project. It was very daunting – being part of a small publishing class I am used to working with the same friendly faces. I was faced with seven new people, all of whom seemed to know each other really well. They were oblivious to the fact that a publishing student would be working with them and didn’t really understand the skills that I had. I left feeling quite defeated not really knowing if they  needed my assistance.

Alison Hems, a heritage tutor responsible for this module, was still unsure of the exact briefing but it was clear they required two things from us:

• house and garden trail
• a week of events at Max Gate to attract younger audiences/families

It was planned that we would visit Max Gate on 30th November, this would allow us to meet the house manager, become familiar with the house and be briefed fully on the project.

The Project Begins

Before the academic year began I had been offered the opportunity to work on a project with the National Trust. This was something not to turn down, everyone’s heard of the National Trust, they are iconic. Very excited by the prospect I spent the summer preparing; creating a proposal and volunteering at the property where the project was based – Max Gate, Thomas Hardy’s home.

My initial expectations was that I would be creating an illustrated walking guide of Hardy Country (the area in which Hardy based his novels). A trail would be created to connect Hardy’s two properties, Max Gate and his birth place.

It soon became clear that this is not what the Trust were expecting. A lot of the work I did over the summer has since become irrelevant. However it gave me a good basis and starting point – I learnt a great deal about Thomas Hardy, his home, his works and personal affairs. I have been able to transfer and refer back to this information since.

To finish my first diary post, here are some snaps of my time volunteering at Max Gate. I was fortunate enough to visit on a very sunny week, the house and garden looked beautiful and there were plenty of visitors to talk to. I also got to stay in the servants quarters which was quite an experience!