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Once, aristocrats used their country houses as oh-so-refined bases for brutal hunting, shooting and fishing escapades. They’d set off on horseback before dawn and return, braying triumphantly, with sackfuls of dead creatures, leaving unfortunate servants to scrub the blood from their tweed jackets. Thank goodness those grim days are over. Nowadays, more civilised generations of Britons can enjoy a much cleaner, more humane version of the thrill of the chase, by joining the addictive world of Pokémon GO. And thanks to a collab with the National Trust, the hit game is coming to some of the UK’s most illustrious hunting grounds.
A total of 140 National Trust locations up and down the country now have PokéStops and Gyms that bring the cartoon universe of Pokémon to life. Existing Natty Trust trails and paths have now been transformed into in-game routes, there are special in-game events, and you can even find special National Trust Location Card backgrounds that commemorate where your Pokémon was caught.
The new collab is hoping to get Trainers to prepare for Pokémon’s GO Summer Quest at National Trust properties, with events running across the first two weekends of August.
Selected locations are also offering tons of extras over the long holidays, as part of National Trust’s Summer of Play. Twenty-seven sites including Dorset’s Kingston Lacy, Cambridge’s Anglesey Abbey, and Yorkshire’s Fountains Abbey have dedicated Pokémon zones, with mini games and hands-on activities. There are also Mega Evolution Trails, with fun sheets to fill out and interactive challenges to win.
For anyone looking for a multi-stage adventure, there are five unique stickers to collect (Mega Dragonite, Mega Clefable, Mega Gengar, Mega Charizard Y and Pikachu) across different properties: bag them all and put them in your Pokémon x National Trust sticker booklet and you’ll be in with a chance to win a Pokémon TCG Elite Trainer Box. And if digital Pokémon just aren’t enough for you, book an in-person meet-and-greet with a giant Pikachu at selected NT properties (but work fast, these are already shaping up to be seriously popular).
This explosion of Pokémon excitement is all designed to get younger audiences excited about National Trust properties: if learning about crenellations and ha-has sends kids to sleep, maybe the prospect of catching a Snorlax will wake them up. Check out the National Trust website for full details on the summer’s teeming line-up. And then get hunting, safe in the knowledge that (unlike aristocrats in days gone by) any Pokémon you catch will be friends, not food.
Find a full list of National Trust properties with Pokémon attractions this summer here.
Find more Pokémon-themed fun this summer at London's Pokopia garden.
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