BANK Gardens in Stroud became GZ (Ground Zero) for an hour on Saturday when a geocaching event took place.

The name of the geocaching game is secrecy, so muggles (non-cachers) may not have been aware of the true nature of those gathering around a picnic table and exchanging small tokens.

It was, however, an opportunity for Joachim and Sabime Wuttke from Berlin to meet locals, and for others to meet up, put faces to names and swap geocaching stories.

Geocaching involves people hunting hidden treasure ‘caches’ via gps devices: caches come in a huge range of sizes and varieties, and the pastime can take you anywhere, from the middle of cities to the wide open countryside.

Joachim (aka Jobar) said: “We’ve just been in Northern Ireland and are on our way home, calling in at the EppyFest tonight. We’ve run geocaching events in Berlin and attended one in Belfast, and it’s a good way to meet new people and swap stories and Travel Bugs.”

If anyone would like to find out more about geocaching, visit the website at geocaching.com and sign up to join the fun.