Meet Lucy, also known as The Nott’m Lass. With a background in videography and leading walking tours of the English countryside, Lucy understands the interactive nature of geocaching and how to keep people engaged!

Join us as we learn about Lucy’s journey into geocaching, moments that sparked her passion for content creation, and her dream geocaching adventure.

How did you get introduced to Geocaching?

When I was around 15, my younger brother mentioned that his mate at school was talking about geocaching, which I’d never heard of. He said we should try it, so we downloaded the app and went on a scavenger hunt in our local neighbourhood. We were amazed to find several geocaches within a few minutes’ walk from our house. After a couple of weeks enjoying our new hobby, unfortunately, it started to rain, and so we ran back inside our house and, being typical teenagers, moved on to something else – probably computer games.

It wasn’t until about three years ago that I got into geocaching again because I had started doing travel blogs and videos and wanted something different to spice them up a bit.

What’s your background outside of Geocaching?

I’m a Videographer, and I film and edit promotional videos for businesses.
I got into videography while at university, studying songwriting. When my fellow students realized I could produce videos, they were all clambering for me to create music videos for them.

However, my very first video was for my local pub, where I worked behind the bar. During the weekly meeting, the landlady asked the bar staff how we could promote the pub. I put up my hand and offered to make a short promo video set to upbeat music I’d composed. The video was a success, and other pub landlords liked what they saw, and very soon, I found myself traveling all over the UK making pub promotional videos. I have fond memories of that time charging up and down the country to film mainly newly refurbished pubs for a large pub chain.

Over the next few years, my videography business expanded, and I now have several clients whose businesses I promote. I have recently produced a series of countryside walking blogs and short reels for North East Derbyshire District Council to encourage people to go out walking.

I’m a qualified and licensed drone pilot.

I’ve also hosted several group walks in The Peak District in Derbyshire. These have been very successful, always ending the walk at a country pub. I’m now thinking that during the next group walk, I’ll throw in a few geocaches for people to find along the route, which will be great fun.

What’s the story behind your username?

I’m ‘TheNottmLass.’ I came up with the username as I thought it was a fun idea, easy to remember, and as I’m from Nottingham, I thought it was very appropriate. It seems to have caught on because occasionally random people in the street or on a country walk will call out, ‘Hey, Nott’m Lass,’ and sometimes they’ll even ask for a selfie!

When did you start documenting your geocache finds on social media?

I think this would have been around 2021 – during the Covid lockdown. When lockdown rules eased up slightly, and we were allowed outside, I was desperate to get out into the countryside, having been cooped up for months. I started hiking and remembering the laughs my brother and I had years ago looking for geocaches, I downloaded the app and made geocaching part of my walks, videos, and blogs.

How and where can people find you and your Geocaching content?

The Nott’m Lass Website: www.thenottmlass.com
Instagram: thenottmlass
YouTube: @TheNottmLass
TikTok: @thenottmlass
Facebook: thenottmlass
Threads: @thenottmlass

What’s your favorite part of sharing your adventures online?

For me, being part of geocaching and sharing my finds online gives me a real sense of community. Geocaching is such fun and it can get quite hilarious searching for the cache in some random spot. I think it’s a wonderful hobby that all the family can enjoy, and so by sharing my adventures online, I am encouraging people to get outside and enjoy our countryside whilst having a laugh looking for that elusive geocache.

What is your favorite Geocaching location you’ve traveled to? Why does it stand out as a favorite?

Although I’ve been geocaching whilst on holiday abroad, my favourite is much closer to home here in Nottingham. It was the time I found the ‘Cold War Cache’ (GC32REK), which is hidden deep underground in an ROC 1950s Cold War bunker on a hillside. To enter, you clamber into a metre high concrete box and then descend a very narrow ladder into an underground room. The room is derelict and very gloomy, with graffiti on the walls, and there are rusty old bunk beds in the corner. I managed to find the hidden geocache and quickly added my name to the logbook, and got out as fast as I could back up that rusty old ladder!

What would be your dream Geocaching adventure if time and money weren’t an issue?

My absolute dream with money no object would be a worldwide scavenger hunt in collaboration with geocaching. I’d travel all over the world seeking out and videoing my geocache finds. I’d visit beautiful and interesting cities, including Venice and Paris, and explore some of the world’s most fantastic scenery, including the French Alps and the Scottish Highlands, all the while documenting my Geocaching adventures. I’d film during the day, and in the evenings, I’d edit and post my latest finds. This would be something that viewers would look forward to watching every day and encourage and inspire them to create their own geocaching adventures and memories.

What has been your favorite Geocaching moment so far?

Recently I went to Budapest in Hungary, and I found a giant plastic toy spider hidden in an old stone wall below the famous Fisherman’s Bastion, which made me jump!

Another favourite was when I found a huge Geocache hidden near England’s oldest Oak tree called ‘Major Oak’ (GC2024). It was set in 2001 and has 482 Favorite points. The clue is that it’s next to a tree – which is hilarious since it’s in Sherwood Forest, home to thousands of trees! The cache is a box within a huge box, and there’s loads of stuff to look through and swap!

And yet another favourite is a brilliant geocache called ‘✊ KNOCK ✊’ (GCABKD6) in Wilford Village in Nottingham. It’s an elaborate door knocker fixed to a wall, and the geocache is only released when you knock in the correct sequence. It’s so clever and very funny, as everyone in the family has a go at trying to guess the correct knock-knock sequence.