Hidden Hertford was established in 2008. It was formed following an approach by Hidden Britain, itself a section of Visit Britain. The aim was to bring Hertford to the attention of a wider public by promoting social, historical and architectural features that were largely unknown or ignored.
Initially this was not supported by either Hertford County Council or East Herts District Council as their remit is ‘strategic’ so the idea of launching a heritage tour with its own website was really a personal crusade alongside my existing role as Town Centre Manager.
Myself and a colleague raised substantial funds from various sources such as the National Lottery Awards for All, Action for Market Towns, Grown in Herts and the East of England Development Agency.
The money was used to fund new information desks for Hertford Museum and education days and support for exhibitors on our Farmers Market.
We also ran trips along the River Lea, stalls at local agricultural shows and rural walks covering local farms and afternoon teas.
The most interesting aspect was the innovative audio/visual tours of Hertford
A photographic tour of Hertford was overlaid with descriptions of buildings and other interesting heritage locations written by myself and recorded by a BBC trained commentator. These were combined into both an audio file and AV file that could be downloaded on to a suitable device. The commentary was also translated into French, German and Polish. Both MP3’s and ipods were made available for hire from various points around town.
Unfortunately Government cuts meant that the scheme could not be expanded the way we would have desired and it was closed down. However some of the original material remains. The AV tour is very out of date now as many shops and locations have closed, changed name or no longer exist.
The AV Tour was designed to be viewed on iPods. I have since recovered the individual files and published the audio part of the tour which will shortly be available on Amazon CreateSpace.
More articles on Hertford:
Hertford the county town, Folly Island, Hidden Hertford, Old Barge Pub, Brewing in Hertford, Easter, Fore Street, Eccentric Clergy, Hertford Library, Hertford 1861, Tunnels of Hertford, Sarah Stout, Closed pubs