OSBORNE HOUSE / TREE TRAIL

CLIENT : ENGLISH HERITAGE

Queen Victoria’s consort, Prince Albert, was a keen participant in the collection and planting of exotic tree species, with a particular interest in commercial forestry potential. The Royal family also planted trees to commemorate many a family occasion, or the visit of a particular dignitary. Osborne House’s magnificant trees are one of its many crowning glories. We were asked to develop a trail attractive to both adult visitors and families, which we did by pairing a leaflet with a site-wide tree labelling effort. Engaging signs, designed to evoke surviving metal specimen labels, were produced in stunning etched zinc, on our convenient SPIKE base for ease of install and mowing/maintenance. A handful of labelled trees were selected as particularly engaging for younger visitors, and had a green ‘Family Tree Trail’ roundel added - removable should the leaflet be retired in future. We tested and developed a way to use thumb-embossing as a way to turn the trail into a ‘collect them all’ activity without the maintenance requirements of a rubbing, stamping or paper-punch trail.