POPULAR children’s character The Gruffalo has been brought to life in Dalby Forest thanks to a new reality app.

The Gruffalo Spotter has been designed for use at 26 forests across England. The trail opened at Dalby Forest last month.

Families can follow clues on an interactive trail and track signs of their favourite characters based on The Gruffalo, best-selling picture book written by Julia Donaldson and illustrated by Axel Scheffler.

The self-led trail is packed with facts about forest animals. Once families have spotted the characters, they can use the app to bring the 3D character animation to life and take photos with them.

Their photos are automatically added to the device’s gallery, from where it can be shared via social media with the hashtag #GruffaloSpotters.

The Gruffalo Spotter app has been developed and animated by Nexus Studios and is available for free with no in-app purchases from the App Store, Google Play and Amazon.

Becky Mayo, Dalby Forest centre manager, said: “This is such an exciting development and will deliver a completely different forest experience for our visitors. The Gruffalo is a world renowned story and to be able to bring the characters to life in their natural setting is fantastic. It’s great we’ve had the opportunity to join the two worlds of technology and nature together sensitively.”

Barney Goodland, Head of Digital at Magic Light Pictures said: “Our partnership with Forestry Commission England has been an overwhelming success from the start so in this, our fourth year of activity, we wanted to do something really special. We’re always looking to further children’s enjoyment of The Gruffalo brand and this was an innovative way to incorporate new technology with a real world experience.”

Claire Cook, Creative Producer at Nexus said: “The team at Nexus are massive fans of The Gruffalo and were really excited to be able to bring the iconic characters to life in the forest through the magic of Augmented Reality. Working with Magic Light and the Forestry Commission has been a fantastic collaboration on many levels, from new technical innovation in AR and real time 3d characters, to creating an experience that works outside in all weathers and for all ages.”

For more information visit www.forestry.gov.uk/gruffalo