Duke visits... The Shaun The Sheep Art Trail
- August 2024

The summer is here, or so they tell me, not that I like a day over 20c personally, and that can only mean one thing. The Art Trails are hitting towns and cities up and down the country, so I’m back to posing with various animals around the country.

In July, our first trip has been to Maidstone, Kent who currently have the Shaun the Sheep in the Heart of Kent trail on. My hoos used to live in this region, and grandpops lives not far away in the Medway towns so we visited grandpops and did this trail whilst we were there for the weekend.

I got dragged out of bed at some unearthly hour on Saturday morning to try to beat the rain clouds that were due to hit later in the day, and to get parked in the busy city centre car parks. The hoos had downloaded the app, so they could track their progress and had planned out a route using the downloadable map. Trail maps can be obtained via one of the two Trail shops for a donation as well. We may have visited both and spent a small fortune, but it was all for charity!

We headed to the river, and it wasn’t long before I found my first Shaun. Luckily, we had matching bibs on.



We then continued along the river, find a few more enroute and ended up by the Law Courts and the old gym my hoos used to visit (this was when they were young, fit, and slim). My visit was starting to draw in the crowds, so I grabbed some cuddles with some hoos and kids along the way. We crossed over a little bridge over the river and if by magic found another one. This one was by the Kentish lady river boat. The man setting up the boat, asked if we wanted a trip. We sadly declined on this occasion, but the boat is dog friendly. There are a variety of trips available and you can find details via their website www.kentishlady.co.uk
I told him I was a repawter and I would tell my furiends all about their boat.



We then started to head into the town, which was starting to get busy. I was not allowed into some of the shopping centres, so the hoos took it in turns to visit those ones, whilst I had a well earned nap at a coffee shop.



The trail includes 52 large sculptures and 57 little sculptures who are often found in small groups. The little ones are decorated by school children and community groups. The trail runs from 29th June until 30th August and is free to visit. After this time, the large sculptures will be auctioned off and raise vital funds for Heart of Kent Hospice.

I visited a few shops who allowed me inside and discovered that Maidstone has a Carriage Museum, a Prison, a normal museum which is huge, a park just behind the main high street, not one but two train stations, a posh new library where my sheep hunting came to an end as we all got soaked at that point. I even saw a teeny tiny Italian Greyhound who was acting skittish because it was windy that day.



If you fancy visiting then you can find all the information you need on their website www.shaunheartofkent.co.uk Here is a sneak preview of where I might be visiting next.



To find a trail that may be on in your area or one you may visit then visit the Wild in Art website www.wildinart.co.uk/events

Until next time
love and licks
Duke

www.dukesdoggieadventures.wordpress.com