Owls in Leeds City Centre....... who would have thought it?

On a recent visit to Leeds I spent a couple of hours one afternoon doing the Owl Trail - a strange thing to do in a city centre you would think, however, the purpose of the trail is to inform people of the city's heritage and history as each owl tells you why it is in that particular place and what the owl has seen in its lifetime. Each one is positioned somewhere significant to the city's history and has a story to tell.

You set off with your map which gives you an indication of where each owl is positioned - the first ten owls take about 40 minutes to find then the remaining 15 can take up to an hour and a half although it took us a bit longer as some were more difficult to spot.

You are given an image of what each owl looks like but not their exact position. They might be on a building or on a gate or part of the decorative stonework on a church. You are also given some information on the significance of the location or the building.

All in all it was quite good fun once we go into it. We never did find the first owl - must have gone for a day off! This trail would be quite a good thing to do with children for an afternoons entertainment and best of all it is completely free of charge!

Looking on line I have found that there are owl trails all over the place, from Boston to Dijon, California to La Chouette. They are all over the place so if you come across one on your travels I would recommend them as a great way to find your way around a city and find out more about that city.
Here is more information on the Leeds Owl Trail if you are looking for something a bit more local in the meantime http://www.leedsowltrail.com/owl-trail/.