A new Torbay initiative that links personal health with the benefits of trees is bringing three brand new tree trails to Torbay.
The project, which is thought to be one of the first of its kind in England, involved a number of partner organisations working together to develop the idea and will see a series of tree focused walks being promoted via a phone app, across Brixham, Torquay and Paignton.
Torbay Council, the NHS clinical commissioning group, Hi-Line and social enterprise, Treeconomics, have worked on the plan, which is hoped will encourage more Torbay residents to get out in the fresh air while appreciating nature, with a particular focus on trees.
Kenton Rogers, co-founder and CEO of Treeconomics explained: “The i-Tree Trail is the perfect opportunity for people to get out and about in some of the fantastic nature that Torbay has to offer! A new app developed for the trail will give people snippets of information that can be difficult to source otherwise, and provide some insight into the history of Torbay’s trees!”
Neil Coish, head of Torbay’s Council’s Natural Environment added: “Torbay is lucky enough to host a fantastic array of trees throughout the towns, and it’s great to have these trails as a way of showcasing the species and stories”.
The Project has a strong interactive element, through the previously mentioned Curio app (downloadable at www.curio.xyz and available for free on the both the Apple and Android App Stores), which has a specially designed i-Tree Trail Feature. This allows people to add trees surrounding the trails, and view information about the trail and featured trees.
Simon Putt, principal consultant at Hi-Line, which manages Torbay’s trees, hopes that the trail will encourage interest in trees: “The trees which surround us are often unknown and unrecognised. With simple identification and information as provided in these trails, I hope people’s eyes can be opened to how beautiful and useful trees really are”.
Paul Hurrell of South Devon and Torbay NHS Clinical Commissioning Group added: “Alongside the information about the environment, information is also provided for each trail about the positive impacts they can have on health. Across Europe, approximately 1 in every 15 deaths is associated with a lack of physical activity, and taking regular exercise, such as walking or cycling these trails can reduce these types of figures”.
Find out more about the Torbay Tree Trail – visit https://www.facebook.com/itreetrail
View the video – https://vimeo.com/232986434
For further information Contact Annabel at Treeconomics annabel@treeconomics.co.uk / 01392 249170
