Barnstaple town centre is the place to be for an egg-citing array of family-friendly Easter events and activities organised by North Devon Council this holiday!

At the beautiful Barnstaple Pannier Market, visitors are invited along to two eggs-tra special events:

Wednesday 3 April will see a free family fun day with bouncy castles and face painting coming to the market. A week later, on Wednesday 10 April, visitors can enjoy the Exmoor Zoo Roadshow and 'Dear Zoo' treasure trail by Action for Children. Visitors should collect clues from Action for Children staff in the market and embark on a quest to uncover hidden treasures!

Also at the market, from Tuesday to Saturday throughout the school holidays, visitors can dive into Easter markets, activities and games and are warned to not miss out on some fun competitions: 

• find the bunnies and solve the puzzle! Hunt for ceramic bunnies hidden in market stalls and crack the Easter phrase puzzle to be in the chance of winning a prize
• guess how many eggs! Take a stab at guessing the number of Easter egg balloons in the carnival carriage – closest guess wins a prize

For the adventurous egg-splorers amongst us, a “Great Egg-Scape” digital story trail is launching across Barnstaple from Saturday 30 March, commissioned by Flourishing Barnstaple. Delivered by the geogaming platform High Street Safari, this fun trail can be completed on a smartphone without the need to register or download an app.

Children are invited to visit businesses and venues in local high streets and help the Doggie Detectives solve the mystery. The Easter Bunny’s friends are missing from the factory, locked behind puzzling doors. Participants will embark on a whimsical Augmented Reality (AR) journey, combining real world and computer-generated content, to find clues, crack codes, and reunite the Easter crew. Take selfies and make videos with the trail’s characters before downloading a prize e-book.

Anyone who would like to get involved in the trail should visit the High Street Safari website and choose the location using the drop-down menu. The trail map detailing the 10 participating businesses or venues to visit will be displayed and the Easter Bunny’s friends can be released by scanning the QR code in their windows.

The Museum of Barnstaple and North Devon will be holding Curious Creators arts and crafts drop-in sessions for children on Wednesday 3 April and Wednesday 10 April. The free activities will be hosted by Mrs Recycle and all materials are provided. Whilst there, children can participate in an Easter trail with a challenge to find all the lambs hiding around the museum. 

For adults, the museum is hosting a Public Finds Day on Friday 12 April where Devon’s Finds Liaison Officer Brittany Walsh will be looking at your archaeological finds as part of the Portable Antiquities Scheme. On Saturday 13 April a talk entitled The Art of Protesting Creatively will look at how various pressure groups have used logos, typefaces, graphics, banners, texts, art installations, actions and theatre to put across their messages.

Place Manager, Hannah Harrington says: "As the Easter bunny hops into town, we're egg-cited to unveil a basket full of fun events and activities in Barnstaple Please do come along, soak up the fun and atmosphere in our beautiful Pannier Market, get crafty at the museum, and adventure around the town with the digital story trail. With all of this - and lots more on offer from our brilliant businesses - there's something from everybunny in Barnstaple this Easter." 

The "Great Egg-Scape" digital story trail has been made possible due to support from the Cultural Development Fund, administered by Arts Council England, on behalf of the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport. There are trails to enjoy at participating venues until Monday 15 April.

More information on events and exhibitions at the Museum of Barnstaple and North Devon can be found on their website. 

For more information on the events and activities that are taking place at Barnstaple Pannier Market, residents are encouraged to follow the market's Facebook page.