About Gloucester Scrumpty Trail for Rugby World Cup
To help celebrate Gloucester as a Host City for the Rugby World Cup, there is an exciting Sculptural Trail. Gloucester have adopted Humpty Dumpty as a mascot and given him a rugby jersey and boots: His nickname Scrumpty comes from `scrum’ and `dumpty’. Gloucester legend claims that Humpty Dumpty was the name of a new siege engine which was to be used during the English Civil War Siege of Gloucester in 1643.
The Citizen ran a competition to design a Scrumpty with their design being reproduced by a professional artist on a full scale 5ft Scrumpty. The winner was judged by 2 weeks of public voting and was Kingsholm CofE Primary School student 10 year old Jessica Moss. She created a Gloucester Rugby inspired Scrumpty and her miniature verson can be seen at Gloucester Cathedral, along with the other Scrumptys created by 25 local schools. Until October Jessica’s full scale Scrumpty (Number 13 Citizen Scrumpty) can be found on a Sculpture Trail along with 19 other Scrumptys – which have been placed in historic streets and green places of Gloucester to capture the imaginations of the public. They will then be auctioned off for charity.
Our Experience of Gloucester’s Scrumpty Trail
Having previously read a post on South West Reviews about the Scrumpty Trail I was confident that we could complete the trail pretty quickly. I took my two youngest boys and set off with the map. I let my 7 year old map read and let him go where he wanted. I had a rough idea where I was and had sat nav to get back to the car. We started with the Scrumptys as Gloucester Quays and the boys loved walking around the Docks – asking questions about it all (some of which I didn’t even know the answer). We also discovered new places that we did not know existed – like the Soldiers of Gloucester Museum. They were disappointed to see that Scrumpty Colour the World (no. 7) was missing and we wondered if it had been taken away to be repaired. We then headed towards the centre in time for lunch. There are plenty of places to eat in Gloucester Centre to accommodate all manner of tastes and budgets. We opted for Greggs and treated ourselves to doughnuts too.
I am sure it would have been quicker to wonder around Gloucester and just find the eggs but I felt it was good for my son’s orientation skills. I think he did a really good job seeing that the map is not that clear, and there’s not much to give away where the eggs are (apart from some of the sponsors). Having previously visited the Warner Bros Studio Tour London the boys were excited to visit Gloucester Cathedral where some of Harry Potter was filmed.
We finished the first day in the Gloucester Tourist Information Centre – there you can pick up a free Scrumpty map and purchase Scrumpty memorabilia. We got a very nice Scrumpty magnet (as we have a whole fridge freezer full of magnets from where we have been). They also informed us that number 7 had just been delayed and not vandalised. However, there was a missing ear (which was since fixed) on number 3 (The Tailor). I was sad to learn that later on Scrumpty Number 1 was vandalised.
We then went back another day with my 12 year old son and let him do the map reading. This time we noticed lots of miniature Scrumptys in shops such as Kara Hair and Beauty, Cookes Coffee & Curios and Scoot69. My older son was much quicker at finding the Scrumptys but number 6 (Monkty) was pretty tricky. Also number 7 had arrived. We also discovered the Portraits of the Gloucester Ruby Players. The WOW Rugby exhibition is at Gloucester City Museum with colour portraits of the Rugby Players past and present by Russell Haines, and lots more (running until October 31st 2015). Being so local the boys were also able to tell information about Gloucester that I did not already know – there is certainly plenty to learn!
1. Cracked – Trix, Café Rene
2. Freeeeze A Jolly Good Fellow – Jenny Leonard, Cathedral Deli
3. The Tailor – Deven Bhurke, Naylor Powell
4. Eggburt Trumpty – Mik Richardson, SAFEagent
5. Chick-in-Scrumpty -Michelle Heron, Officenet Systems
6. Monkty – Mik Richardson, Davie and Partners Solicitors
7. Colour the World – Swarez, Doctor Fosters
8. The Viking – Deven Bhurke, Renishaw
9. Puzzlewood – Sian Storey, Gloucester Quays
10. Steampunkty – Mik Richardson, Keyway
11. Old Bragg – Simon McCouiag, Soldiers of Gloucester Museum
12. Ahoy There Scrumpty! – Rachel Shilston, Intoplay
13. Citizen Scrumpty – Jessica Moss, Gloucester Citizen
14. Nerva – Bryony Ball, Hollie Gazzard Trust
15. Folky – Sian Storey, Eastgate Shopping Centre
16. Oops-A-Daisy – Maria Burns, Linden Homes
17. Hard Boiled – Jenny Sealey, Andy Cars & Butlers Venue
18. The Rocketeer – Sophie Green, Kingswalk Shopping Centre, Hanman Split & Gloucester Chamber of Commerce
19. Scrumpy Scrumpty – Elaine Carr, Marketing Gloucester Ltd
20. Galaxy Travels – Kimberley Webb, Pertemps
Now that the boys have found all the eggs they will return again and try to locate them again to show their dad (who was at work and missed the trail when we went). The Scrumptys have so much detail that I am sure there are things the boys missed the first couple of times too. If I had to pick a favourite Scrumpty I wouldn’t know where to begin – but knowing that a 10 year old designed Citizen Scrumpty (13) I think I would have to go with that.
Download a Scrumpty Trail Map
This is not a sponsored post. I am a Gloucestershire Blogger helping to promote businesses in the local area to support our local economy.
These “trails” are popping up all over the place, and are such a good way of discovering a city – even one you think you know!
What a wonderful summer activity. We had the GoGo Dragons in Norwich over the summer and I’m disappointed that we didn’t manage to see them all.
I love these activities and my boys really remember doing the one in London for the olympics. It often turns a boring day out to an adventure
I like all the ‘selfies’ with the Scrumpties!! It looks like a nice way to spend a few hours with the kids.
Oh, I love it! We’ve had the Big Hoot owl trail here in Birmingham and the kids have really enjoyed spotting the owls and having their photos taken with them, and I know they’d love Humpty Dumpty! x
Oh wow the picture with the cathedral is amazing!
This looks like good fun! I especially like the viking and the pirate. We’re getting into the Rugby World Cup here too. Might make a trip to check out the museum exhibition.
Cool! I thought initially that this was a Scrumpy Rugby Trail (and knowing a few rugby players in Gloucester I’m sure that’s an actual thing too!)
Love that this gets families out and about in the center and not just at the Quays x
This is brilliant Joy ! and has brightened up my evening . we are a big rugby household here . We would love to visit this. Your photos are outstanding and so is your blog post.
I love all these weird and wonderful creatures popping up around the UK. x
This looks like fun – you did well do find then all too!
The Scrumpty trail looks like great fun – we loved the Bristol Shaun the Sheep one even though we didn’t find that many
ah these kind of trails are so fun! we didn’t do all the shaun the sheeps in bristol but we are going to the exhibition of them tomorrow to see them all together (cheating really!) x
What an awesome trail! These sorts of things have certainly gained in popularity over the years, and they make for a great day out searching for them!
What a great idea, a fantastic way to get to know a city! Well done for finding them all and sharing the photos! I can’t choose a favourite either, although I do really like the Folksy and Oops-a-Daisy ones, but they are all so good!
Oh these look awesome! I want to visit too!!
These look great! I tried to do some of the Shaun the Sheep trail in Bristol this year but I didn’t manage to get to many.
What a great trail – so much fun to get out and walking around the city. They look like such fun designs.
This looks such fun, I think a visit during the world cup is a must with the kids
This looks like fun. How neat to have map reading skills mixed in with a day of exploring.
I have been meaning to see the Scrumpties all summer. Must go and do it! It’s such a lovely idea but terrible that there has been some vandalism of some of them.
What a wonderful trail and such an interesting introduction with how the name came about. I did scan the title and misread “scrumpy trail” then felt a tinge of disappointment then guilt when I reread! My enthusiasm soon returned on reading the fascinating Humpty Dumpty reincarnation for the world cup and what an amazing job they have made of the trail. Three cheers for Gloucester and I hope Daddy managed to find all the Scrumpties too. Thank you for sharing them all on Country Kids.
For a moment I thought it might be a trail for scrumpy cider! What a great idea for kids – I can just imagine my two getting rather excited about finding the Scrumpties and reading the map.
Now I would be def up for that. Maybe Somerset should organise one.
These look fantastic. We really ought to go and hunt for them ourselves. Well done to your 7yo for his navigation skills!
If we were still in Glouscester we would have loved this. Looks like lots of fun x
These are a great idea. So far we’ve not seen any of the trails (well, apart from one of the Green Man sculptures by fluke), as none of them are near us, and we didn’t make the ones in London.
Would love to have one in Oxford, but so far none.
Oh wow! What a fantastic idea for kids. I would love to this, it looks really fun and I love your photos too. xx
I think these trails are such a good way to get people out exploring and discovering a city. This one looks like a lot of fun. Love Steampunkty 🙂
Hi Joy. This trail looks great! I am going to take my boys asap 🙂 Any excuse to have a trip to Gloucester! Many thanks for sharing #CountryKids