A NEW audio tour of Truro Cathedral has been launched in a bid to give visitors a more intimate insight into Cornwall’s most beautiful religious building.

The hour-long tour has been devised by experienced Truronian tour guide Becky Frost of Penelewey Tours, and can be downloaded to an app for a fee.

For research, Becky walked through the cathedral with volunteer tour guides to find interesting nuggets of information. She learned how when the Father Willis organ was electrified, a ferret was used to carry the wires underneath the choir stalls; and immersed herself in the history of St Mary’s Aisle, the remains of the parish church that was incorporated into the cathedral.

“I have lived in Truro my whole life, and I didn’t know some of these things,” said former Kea and Penair School pupil Becky. “Those little stories help to make a tour more personal.

“When recording, you have to remember you’re not speaking to a microphone or a big corporation, but to individuals. For the same reason, when I’m talking about the fishing window in the west nave, I mention my father’s role as an oyster dredgerman.”

Previously, Becky had been conducting driving tours, for which American groups from cruise ships were her biggest market. “The overheads were high because of the mileage, and consequently the tours were expensive, which made them inaccessible for a lot of people.”

Her “Eureka” moment came during a visit to Rome with her teenage son. “We joined a walking tour but couldn’t finish it – it was too busy and noisy,” she recalled. “In contrast, we did an audio tour of the Vatican City and spent hours on it. I thought then: Cornwall is missing a trick, and started diverting my business in that direction.”

Becky has since produced audio tours of Truro, Falmouth, St Ives, Newquay, Fowey and Plymouth’s historic Barbican. Truro is her first attraction, and she hopes there will be more to come.

“I pitched to around 15 destinations I wanted to work with. Truro Cathedral was the one I especially wanted to do, and nine months later, chief operating officer Sean O’Neill came back to me and said, ‘We’d love to do this.’

“It’s not a matter of ruling out in-person tours, more about inclusion and offering a choice. We live in a society that’s quite socially awkward; an audio tour enables you to go off on your own if you want to. You can have a written script in front of you, and you bring your own headphones. It’s perfect for the neurodiverse market – people who still want to explore but not necessarily in a neurotypical way.”

The tour is available on the Voicemap app, which uses GPS to offer more than 2,000 tours in 600 destinations across 82 countries. Once purchased the tour will remain on a smartphone for use however and as often as people wish.

“It takes about an hour, but you could have lunch in the middle, or do half one day and finish it another,” Becky explained. “The choice is yours.”

Mr O’Neill said: “Having an audio tour to accompany the great work and expertise of our volunteers has been on our wish-list for a long time. The audio tour now means that it’s easier than ever to learn about and engage with the history and heritage of the cathedral, at visitors own pace and whatever day or time they choose to visit us.”