Beeston Residential February 2020

Date: 7th Feb 2020 @ 1:21pm

A fantastic time was had by all on the Year 3/4 residential trip to Beeston this week!

30 excited children - accompanied by Mrs Snowdon, Mrs Kelly and myself - arrived at Beeston on Wednesday morning and got settled into their bedrooms before having a lovely play on the field. After eating our packed lunches, it was time for our first activity: a visit to a local dairy farm. The farmer Mr. Bull (yes that really was his name!) gave us a really informative and interesting guided tour of his farm and showed us all of the cows he owns - over 300 of them! We learnt about the milking process and how the animals are fed, named and numbered. Here are a few facts we learnt...

• On average, a cow produces around 25 litres of milk each day.
• Every cow must have a number tag in her ear which is unique to them and links each cow to the farm on which they live.
• A cow generally lives to the age of 8 or 9, but a cow year is equivalent to 10 human years.
• Mr Bull names every single one of his cows and he remembers ALL of their names!

By 5 o'clock everyone was ready for their evening meal which was delicious...fish and chips or pasta bolognaise followed by chocolate brownie or jelly and ice cream. After tea, it was time for our second activity which was weaving with willow sticks. Even though it was a tricky process, all the children tried their very best and made some super fish, completely out of willow. 

After a good night's sleep (the children were SO well-behaved at bedtime and Mrs Snowdon even had to wake the boys room up at 7 o'clock!) it was time for another lovely meal: cereal, yoghurt, toast and a cooked breakfast for those who wanted it. We then got all our layers and welly boots on ready for our walk up "The Witches' Steps"! It was a 2 3/4 hour loop, taking in Peckforton Castle and the legend of the 3 witches who built themselves a house in the forest when the villagers banished them for turning people's hair green, making warts grow on their noses and their toes drop off! Fortunately, we all made it back with our toes in tact, albeit rather muddier than when we set off! Well done children - you all walked a really long way without moaning at all.

So this brought us to our final meal at Beeston and the end of a wonderful 2 days away. Thank you to all the children for being such fantastic representatives of our school and for embracing our activties with plenty of enthusiasm.

Mrs Riley