Tales of Tunbridge Wells

Royal Tunbridge Wells has a surprising story to tell. Set in the picturesque landscape of the West Kent Countryside, the town’s special character has inspired artists, innovators, naturalists and political radicals for over four hundred years. As H G Wells said: “Tunbridge Wells is Tunbridge Wells, and there is nothing really like it upon our planet.”

Tales of Tunbridge Wells is one of a series of audio-led walking trails through the town and borough. Hear voices from past and present, uncover stories, anecdotes and facts, as audio content and images are triggered automatically by GPS at associated locations.

All content, stories and sounds have been kindly donated by local residents, employees and researchers as well as those with a specific interest or connections to the town and borough.
‘The Town’ trail will take you on a self-led journey through 30 key locations in Royal Tunbridge Wells, through parks, cobbled lanes and historic high streets. The full walk and content takes just over an hour and a half to complete and covers approximately 3km. An on-screen map offers a suggested route, although the GPS triggered audio and images can be enjoyed in any order at any time or even at home! There is no set starting point, although, your on-screen map offers a suggested route.

Enjoy your walk through the town and remember, you can pause the audio trail at any time to explore these locations further, have a coffee or pop into the many local shops.

The app is Bluetooth Beacon and GPS enabled. This is used to show you relevant content based on your location at the event. Please note that you do not have to be in Tunbridge Wells in order to access any of the content in the app.

The app also uses Location Services and Bluetooth Low Energy to determine your location when the app is running in the background. It will trigger notifications when you are close to a location of interest. We have used GPS and Bluetooth Low Energy in a power-efficient way: such as only performing Bluetooth Low Energy scans when you are close to a location that uses bluetooth beacons. However, as with all apps that use location, please note that continued use of GPS running in the background can dramatically decrease battery life.