Bude Visitor Centre

In conjunction with our Interiors division and Events division we won the tender for this large project which involved the complete refit and launch of Bude Canal Visitor Centre and Tourist Information Centre.

Our involvement in the project was to design, write, produce and install an innovative and interactive exhibition display. We also designed and produced outside interpretation boards, benches and milestones, and wrote and designed resource packs for the local community and visitors to Bude.

Working in consultation with the visitor centre staff as well as a panel of local historians and community members, we designed the exhibition area, which had to seize visitors’ interest and encourage them to visit the Canal and related museums and attractions (rather than competing with them). There was a lot of information to fit into a relatively small space, so we devised dividers to segment the information into five different themes, whilst retaining the feeling of space in the room.

We wanted this space to be interactive, presenting dates, facts and figures in an interesting way that would grab people’s interest and motivate them to find out more. For example, we came up with the idea of an ‘Inventor’s Desk’ to introduce people to some of the most colourful local characters. With different characters and their histories and eccentricities hidden in separate drawers of the desk, visitors can have fun discovering more about them.

“20/20 worked with the community concepts gathered during the programme and showed great strength and flexibility in working with the community team to deliver an ‘owned’ interpretation centre. They have left Bude a centre to be truly proud of.”

Andrea Vaillancourt-Alder, community programme manager for the Bude Canal Regeneration Project.