Rediscovering Your Local Area
Cardiff Castle is free to enter if you live or work in Cardiff. Yet when I lived there most natives said “Oh I’ve never visited”, or they had meant to go for years. It’s a shame as I found the castle a wonderful part of Cardiff and it’s history.
Are You Curious About Your Area?
We spend much of modern life on our devices and in our heads, dreaming of future plans and distant places. Yet around us there are places to see, events to enjoy and stories to discover.
Whether it is your native city or somewhere you go home at weekends, there will be things to explore. A new board game cafe, a museum redone, or a camping spot you never knew about. You can rediscover old favourites or explore places with others.
In Exeter I’ve been doing this after returning from a winter away. New coffee spots, walks along the estuary and historic buildings have made me happy.
Exploring Like a Tourist
Visitors come to your area looking for places to relax, be entertained and experience the local culture. You can find where they go and discover new places to explore.
If friends or family came to visit you where would you recommend to them? Have you visited these places yourself?
You can start with some online research. Look for activities, places to eat and attractions. TripAdvisor, Reviews from Google and Lonely Planet are great places for ideas. Online guides from news sites and event pages from local sites are also useful. Ask friends who travel regularly what tools they use.
Think about what people come to your area for. Is it a great music scene, the coastal walks or the local sports teams? Use these in your searches and if you don’t know then that’s a great place to start.
If there is a tourist information centre go and browse the leaflets and ask them for advice. If they know you are a local they may be a bit more helpful.
In Exeter I found a Top 10 list of places nearby from TripAdvisor and in the last few months I’ve visited 3 of these. Topsham Museum was fantastic and I couldn’t believe I’d never visited Exeter Guildhall. I found a similar list of Devon Attractions at the Telegraph website and best places to eat in Exeter from the BBC.
Exploring With Those Around You
Ask those around you to recommend places. Often the best people to ask those who moved recently to the area. They have had to build a life there and explore as a consequence.
Ask friends or family that know the area well and take an interest in the people and places around them. If you don’t know any then become the one who introduces people to new places.
What has opened up recently and what is going on around you? Is there a new restaurant or arts performance, has a local pub been refurbished? Keep an eye out for opportunities in your environment from day to day.
Use your interests to look out for opportunities. Try a new salsa evening, support a nearby rugby team or visit that board game cafe that opened up. Use local communities for inspiration. You can find groups for many interests on sites such as Meetup.com, Facebook and Couchsurfing.
Let a friend take you to a comedy club or cider festival. Check out a local sports team or support an event in your village. Try something fun that you’ve always liked the sound of.
In Exeter I’ve slowly been working my way through the local coffee spots discovering several new ones with friends. I’ve still got one to go from a list of Coffee spots in Exeter (which is missing Exe Coffee Roasters!). On Instagram my friend Wez has been inspiring me with her pictures of Devon and Exeter. She is a great person to ask about places to visit.
Exploring in Person
Whether by foot or wheels you will need to go in person to discover places. It’s your choice if you want to keep it personal or share it with others.
The hard part is picking something, so I’ve got a few challenges to start you out…
Something New. Find a list of the main attractions around you. Choose a new one and try it in the next 14 days.
Something Old. Go to a place you haven’t been for a long time. Rediscover an old favourite, give a place a second chance or try out the new menu your friend told you about.
Share the Experience. Find someone local and visit 3 places together. You choose a place new to them, they choose a place new to you and finish with a place new to you both.
Lucky Dip. Select 3–5 places you’d like to go to and get a friend, family or person online to pick. The last resort is to pick a place at random!
Make It Regular. Set yourself a challenge of one new place a week or month. Make it a date or work your way down a list
In Exeter I found the Pig and Pickle and The Flat is also new to me, so I got a friend to choose between them for a meal. I’ve also been appreciating Devon more by walking the Exe Estuary and exploring a few local towns.
Choose Me An Article
This one came from the title “Rediscovering Your Home Town”. You can pick 1 of 6 titles for me to write another article on.
Suggest one in a comment, on Twitter or Instagram. At worst I decide with a die-roll.
The choices are….
- Starting out with Storytelling Games
- Using Podcasts to Explore the World
- Board Games for Travelling Light
- How You Can Start a Mastermind Group
- A Year of Audiobooks
- Growing Patreon the Hard Way