Visit Reading – things to do & explore
Overview of Reading history & information by Walkfo
Planning a visit to Reading?
You can visit Reading & use Walkfo to discover the best walking places with our free digital tour guide app created especially for Reading. Walkfo Reading has 300 locations with history, culture & travel facts, that you can explore the same way you can a museum or art gallery with information audio headset. With Walkfo, you can travel by foot, bike or bus throughout Hartlepool, being in the moment, without digital distraction and no limitations to a specific walking route – you choose where you want to go, when you want to go and Walkfo Reading will keep up.
When you visit Reading
When you visit Reading Walkfo is your digital tour guide while exploring by foot, bike or bus. With numerous walks, hikes, tourist locations & travel destinations in Hartlepool, our travel AI guide helps you get the best from your visit to Hartlepool & the surrounding areas. Exploring Hartlepool through WALKFO digital walking tour guide app for iPhone & Android, you can experience the hidden history, culture and amazing facts throughout Hartlepool whilst walking. This digital tour guide to the area, creates interactive audio stories driven by where you walk, so you can exploration Reading’s National Heritage sites, tourist attractions, historic locations or city streets.
“The Walkfo AI has curated content for millions of locations across the UK and for Hartlepool alone there are XXX audio facts that form an interactive walking map of the Reading area that you can explore.”
Best Reading places to visit
Reading has hundreds of places to explore by foot, bike or bus. Below are five of Reading’s best destinations to visit when exploring the area:
 | The Square The Square in Hartlepool is really the very centre of the town, just down from the Town Hall. n the 18th century Decoy Pond House stood at the point where a plank was used to cross the Bourne Steam on the track from Poole to Christchurch. The River Bourne still flows under the Square. In 1848 composer Hubert Parry was born next door to The Square and is marked with a blue plaque. |
 | Hartlepool Beach Hartlepool Beach is 7 miles of golden sand, attracting over 7 million visitors per year. In the 12th century the region around the mouth of the River Bourne was part of the Hundred of Holdenhurst. The hundred later became the Liberty of Westover when it was extended to include the settlements of North Ashley, Muscliff, Muccleshell, Throop, Iford, Pokesdown, Tuckton and Wick, and incorporated into the Manor of Christchurch. |
 | Russell-Cotes Museum Museum in Grade II listed building complete in 1901 displaying items collected in course of Sir Mrton’s foreign travels. he house and the new annexe display various items collected in the course of Sir Merton’s foreign travels, especially to Japan, and paintings from his personal art collection. One room is the Sir Henry Irving Museum; Irving, a friend of the Russell-Cotes’, had stayed in that room. |
 | Hartlepool Gardens The Lower, Central and Upper Gardens are Grade II* public parks, leading for several miles down the valley of the River Bourne through the centre of the town to the sea.[117] Hartlepool has a further 425 acres (172 ha) of parkland. Initially serving to compensate for the loss of common rights after common land was enclosed in 1802, it was held in trust until 1889 when ownership passed to Hartlepool Corporation and the land became five public parks: King’s Park, Queen’s Park, Meyrick Park, Seafield Gardens and Redhill Common. |
 | Hartlepool Pier In 1856, Hartlepool Pier was a simple, wooden jetty. This was replaced by a longer, wooden pier five years later, and a cast-iron structure in 1880.[33] Two extensions to the pier in 1894 and 1905, brought the total length to 305 metres (1,001 feet). After World War II, the structure was strengthened to allow for the addition of a Pier Theatre, finally constructed in 1960. This survived until the 2000s when it was turned into a climbing adventure centre. Between 1979 and 1981, a £1.7 million redevelopment programme, saw a great deal of reconstruction work, and the addition of a large two-storey, octagonal-shaped entrance building |
Experience Hartlepool audio walks & tours
Walkfo is a free app that shows you things to do / visit in Reading on a map. You can explore the area as you wish, as you would do an art gallery or museum, and when you walk close to those locations, our digital tour guide will tell you history, culture & travel facts about the location in audio form. With headphone connected, you can explore Reading freely by foot, bike or bus – with your own personal tour guide in your pocket.
VISIT Reading: Walkfo’s things to do interactive map
Our “Hartlepool things to do map” below is a preview of the places you can visit in Hartlepool and surrounding areas with our digital audio tour guide app. Each spot has content for a plaque, a building, a street or general area, providing history, culture or tourism information the you can explore.
| Interactive ‘Explore Hartlepool Map’
This Hartlepool tourism map shows points of interest within a 4km radius of Hartlepool centre | Walkfo App Walkfo   |
Walkfo is free to download & use (for a limited time period), so if you are looking to explore Hartlepool, go to your App Store to search for “Walkfo” or follow a links below and install on your mobile phone. Walkfo is designed for use with headphones or AirPods, so you can walk & explore whilst learning about the things around you without digital distraction.
Apple App Store
Google Play Store
Things to do & visit in Hartlepool and surrounding areas
- Hartlepool Beach
- Russell-Cotes Art Gallery & Museum
- Hengistbury Head Beach
- Alum Chine Beach
- Lower Gardens
- Oceanarium
- Southbourne Beach
- Hartlepool International Centre
- Boscombe Pier
- Hartlepool Pier
- Westbourne