Axminster - Axe Valley Market Town

Essential Intel

Please note: one clue, Clue 06, is set in an area that is locked daily at night and on some Sundays, so make sure you leave enough time to complete your mission before it closes.

Navigating The Route

This is a circular Spy Mission around Axminster's Axe Valley market town, with Agents tackling an infamous weevil breeder and her evil weevils who are threatening Axminster's carpets, following the clues to deactivate her device before the town is left threadbare.

The mission covers approximately 1.5 miles and should take around 1.5 hours to complete. You'll start at Axminster Train Station in Station Yard, head up towards the town centre, investigate streets, a churchyard, Douglas Hull Memorial Garden and Silver Street, then finish at the Guildhall, where you can take a seat and rest a while before solving the last clue.

This Trail is not suitable for wheelchairs or pushchairs. There are some steps and narrow pavements to negotiate, including a hill up towards the town centre and final steps down into Castle Street.

Watch out for traffic when crossing the main road and other roads on the route. There are also steps, narrow pavements, a churchyard and a pavement section where you need to tiptoe carefully because of cracks. Keep Mini Agents alert for those weevil guardians throughout.

Getting There

By car: Begin your operation at Axminster Train Station, Station Yard (EX13 5PF), using ///sleepy.elders.reeling.

By public transport: The Trail starts at Axminster Train Station, so make your way there to begin the mission.

Need the Loo?

There are several tactical comfort stops along the route. Toilets are at the train station, inside the entrance at Tesco, at The Heritage Centre, at Clue 08, and in the car park opposite your last clue.

Bring Your Furry Sidekicks

Four-legged Agents are welcome to join this weevil-thwarting operation. 🐾

The route includes roads, a main road crossing, narrow pavements, steps, a churchyard, a hill up towards the town centre and final steps down into Castle Street, so keep canine recruits close around traffic and take extra care on the cracked pavement section.

Food & Drink Stops

Code-breaking is hungry work, especially when carpets are at stake.

There is a Tesco store and filling station by the start, a cafe at the former police station in Douglas Hull Memorial Garden, an old sweet shop along the route, and Costa near the George Hotel.

Want to Make a Day of It?

Axminster Heritage Centre

The route suggests popping into The Axminster Heritage Centre to escape the weevil guardians, and describes it as 'so much more than just a museum'. It makes a fitting extra stop for Agents who want to dig deeper into the town once the device has been dealt with.

Douglas Hull Memorial Garden

Douglas Hull Memorial Garden adds a proper slice of Axminster history to the mission. The site was originally the Union Workhouse, was replaced in 1863, and became the second purpose-built police station in Devon. There is a cafe here, and you can explore the old cells, which still have the original heavy doors. The gates to this garden are sometimes locked, but you should still be able to solve the next clue.

The Minster Church of St Mary's

Axminster's carpet heritage is closely tied to The Minster Church of St Mary's. The town's carpets were once paraded through the streets accompanied by the joyful peal of the church bells, making this landmark a memorable part of the town's threadbare-or-triumphant tale.

Axminster Carpet Heritage on Silver Street

The mission stops at the original site of the Axminster carpet industry on Silver Street. This is where local weaver Thomas Whitty created his first luxurious loom-made masterpiece in 1755 on a warm Midsummer's Day. Those carpets went on to become famous, ending up under the feet of royalty, nobility and many others - exactly the sort of legacy worth protecting from evil weevils.