On Tuesday May 7th, class 3 went camping to Wildside near Hemyock. It was lovely and peaceful there, although we could sometimes hear the planes from Dunkerswell airfield flying overhead.
We had a lovely time and were kept very busy with lots and lots of different activities. On Tuesday afternoon, after we’d all eaten lunch and had gone to inspect our tents, we went into the bluebell wood with Alison and listened to the birds in the trees. Then we zoomed down the zip wire in the trees. We also had an un -nature walk and tried to spot the things which shouldn’t have been in the woods –like an old tennis racket.
After an ice cream break, we did some orienteering through the woods. This meant we had to look for information about the creatures or trees that are found in these woods and then we did a quiz.
There were lots of lovely animals to meet too such as the lambs and the little miniature Shetland pony foal called Periwinkle, and we enjoyed feeding the piglets and the chickens too.
After tea, we learned about some more animals and got to see things like a fox’s brush and some owl’s wings before we went into the woods for a night time walk. We followed a glow stick trail through the woods and some people thought it was really scary – especially having to cross the bridge in pitch blackness.. At the end of our walk, Richard used a bat detector to listen for bats crackling. We didn’t hear bats but we did hear deer hooves.
At bedtime, the tents and sleeping bags were really cosy so some people went to sleep straight away. Other people were kept awake by the noise of people chatting and the really heavy rain and wind. It was so noisy that it was like sleeping in a drum.
In the morning, before breakfast, we went back into the wood to watch it waking up. It was so calm and peaceful at that time of day that for many of us, it was our favourite activity of the week.
Wildside is such a lovely residential with lots to do and see that we can’t wait to go camping again.
By Class 3
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