Bug Trail

The story of Great Ayton’s High Street through the eyes of pollinators

Follow the trail through Great Ayton to discover more about pollinators, how planting has changed over time in the village and what planting is now taking place to encourage more pollinators bearing in mind climate change.

An activity booklet and leaflet are available from the The Discovery Centre and a free Bug Trail app is available to download from App Store and Google Play. Alternatively explore the Bug Trail webpage. Made possible by money raised by National Lottery players, the project focuses on the story of Great Ayton’s High Street through the eyes of pollinators from the earliest records to planting for the future.

Moor Sustainable CIC received a National Lottery Heritage Fund grant in 2020 for a heritage project, creating a rubbings trail along the High Street in Great Ayton. Funding was provided by Great Ayton Parish Council to maintain the trail for five years. Following the winding up of Moor Sustainable CIC in March 2022, the Climate Action Stokesley and Villages group have taken over the maintenance of the trail.

Background to the Trail

Since 2019, the Brighten Up Great Ayton group, with the support of Great Ayton Parish Council, has been developing areas of planting to be attractive to pollinators around the village. The planting is based on a plan for pollinators developed by local expert botanist Martin Allen.

As part of developing the plan Martin looked at the 19thC Ordnance Survey maps of the village and spotted that there used to be lots of small orchards. This led to the planting of a mini-orchard supported by Broadacres Housing Association. Caryn Loftus, of Moor Sustainable CIC, who instigated the development of the pollinator plan was intrigued by the maps and came up with the idea to undertake and share the results of research to see how the planting for pollinators has changed over time as the village has developed through activities and materials for families.  

In February 2021 a talk, by Martin Allen and Caryn Loftus, was held online called Pollinators and Plants as we couldn’t have a group walk through the village. Over 50 people attended the talk and gave some great feedback.

Here are the presentation and notes from the talk.

Bug Trail – sustainability

This project was designed to encourage people to explore the environment of Great Ayton on foot.

To help the environment, if you are planning to visit Great Ayton why don’t you come by bus or train rather than driving. For public transport information visit Traveline.

A local designer, Daniel van den Toorn of Toorn Designs, was used to design the engravings for the posts which were installed by a firm based in Great Ayton and the trail leaflet/booklet, app and web page were developed by Studio Botez, a firm orginally based in Great Ayton.

The trail leaflet and booklet were printed by Yatton House, a centre for adults with learning difficulties/disabilities based in Great Ayton, on recycled paper.