Number 1902 in a series of caches where a red telephone box is in close proximity to a post box.

The only rules are that they have to be able to be photographed together, be not more than 100’ apart and the phone boxes have to be red.

Brightwalton GeoCache Series 

After our recently placed GeoCache Series at Great Western Park, Didcot, we decide to place a few more caches in other parts of Didcot and surrounding villages, in order to honour local heros, and to reflect our rich local history, stories and heritage. We hope you will enjoy these new caches and may also learn something new when you are caching, thank you!

All our placed caches can be viewed at this public bookmark list: https://coord.info/BMFEC4E

Brightwalton #238 - The Fine Pair (Officially Known as A Fine Pair # 1902 ~ Brightwalton)

The Brightwalton Book Exchange is a community-run micro-library housed inside a repurposed, traditional British red telephone box.

Address: 1 Saxons Acre, Brightwalton, Newbury RG20 7BD

• Opening Hours: Open 24 hours, 7 days a week
• Cost: Completely free to use

The history of the Brightwalton Book Exchange is tied closely to the broader story of the historic village of Brightwalton and the national movement to rescue Britain's iconic red telephone boxes.

1) The Village History

Brightwalton is an ancient agricultural parish nestled within the North Wessex Downs.

• Domesday Book: The village has roots stretching back to at least 1086, where its original parish church, All Saints, was officially recorded.
• The Civil War: In 1887, a dozen skeletons were discovered in the local hamlet of Brightwalton Holt, believed to be fallen soldiers from 17th-century English Civil War skirmishes in the area.
• Notable Residents: The village was once home to the prominent 18th-century surgeon William Savory, and later, the famous novelist Monica Dickens (great-granddaughter of Charles Dickens) spent her final years living here.

2) Evolution into a Book Exchange

With the rise of mobile phones in the 2000s, British Telecom (BT) found that thousands of rural public phone boxes went completely unused.

• The Adopt a Kiosk Scheme: BT launched a program allowing parish councils and charities to buy their local redundant phone boxes for just £1, on the condition that the phone mechanism was removed but the iconic red shell remained.
• Community Transformation: Like many villages across the UK, Brightwalton's community stepped in to save their kiosk from demolition. Volunteers fitted the interior with custom wooden shelving and stocked it with donated books, officially transforming an obsolete piece of utility infrastructure into a 24/7 free micro-library.

About this Multi-cache:

Welcome to the historic village of Brightwalton! Please gather some information on or near these red items in this "Fine Pair", at the published coordinates.

Please first observe the shorter of the pair and find a date at the bottom of the sign, right next to the postbox number. Let the date be AB/06/20CD.

Please also find the Postbox number, which is XXXX EFGX.

Now please turn your attention to the taller of the pair, and find a telegraph pole next to it. Up on the pole just below the yellow sign, there is a small silver metal sign installed into the pole. What is the 4-digit number on the second line? Let it be HJKL. 

The final coordinates are a short distance away at:

N51  ( B / D )   ( A - C )  .   ( E + F )    ( F - G )   ( E + K )

W001  ( K - H )  ( E + G )  .  ( J + L )   ( K - J )   ( E + G )

The checksum of all the digits in the final coordinates is 33.

Please also note: 

Please bring your own pen, and open & close the cache lid carefully so the cache and log book can survive longer. 

Please also replace exactly as found due to the obvious reason, and please be careful with the possible thorns and stinging nettles. Long sleeves, trousers, and gloves are recommended. 

You do not need to cross any fence or enter any private land.

Thank you and enjoy GeoCaching!

FTF: Congratulations to parallel sticks for their FTF on 6 July 2026!