This post is about field trips we took during our actual summer holidays (which is pretty much just August).
Camping: This was a first for us, at least in England. We camped for a week down in East Sussex at a Christian retreat with some of our friends. Surprisingly, the weather was awesome (other than one day when the rain poured and the wind blew so hard we felt like we were camping in a hurricane…oh, and the first night when we thought we might freeze to death). We loved it, though!
We had a few afternoons free, so we went to the beach one day and to Bodiam Castle on another day.
Warwick Castle: We were blessed with some money to visit this amazing medieval castle attraction, a place I’ve wished to visit for awhile. It’s a real castle, and it’s actually one of the top attractions in England. Along with touring part of the castle itself, we also enjoyed watching demonstrations of a working trebuchet, birds of prey, archery, sword fighting, and a live jousting show. The girls particularly enjoyed the Princess Tower, and there were lots of other fun things to see and do. Isaac had studied the Middle Ages that school year, and I can’t imagine a more perfect field trip to make the Middle Ages come to life for kids. This is when I feel truly blessed to live here (even though I do get homesick for America)!
Chirk Castle—Located in North Wales, this is a National Trust castle we try to visit every year.
Holland—This is the second time we’ve visited Holland as a family. This time, we took the EuroTunnel (Channel Tunnel) on the way there and a ferry on the way back. I’ve decided I do prefer the Tunnel. You drive onto a train, and it’s a fairly quick journey to France. We stayed with friends in Rotterdam for 3 days before heading home.
On the train, you stay in your car for the duration of the journey. It was a first, so it was interesting to us. You might not be able to tell, but we really are on a train here.
Day 1: Maaslantkering and visitor’s centre (Keringhuis)—Maaslantkering is a huge storm surge barrier on Nieuwe Waterweg (New Waterway), a ship canal. We toured the visitor’s centre, played with water stuff outside, and took a guided tour of the Maaslantkering, which was very cool.
Day 2: Kinderdijk—We visited this UNESCO World Heritage Site on our first family trip to Holland, but that was during the winter. It was different visiting during the summer, even if it was raining. We got to go inside and tour one of the windmills, and we also went to a museum where we watched a really neat video presentation about windmills and dikes.
Day 3: Gouda—Famous for Gouda cheese, this was definitely a tourist location, filled with stalls full of delightful Dutch souvenirs. We got to watch a cheese-making demonstration and also a man hand-carving wooden shoes (I bought one). We also ate some stroopwafels (my favorite treat).
Nearly back to England via ferry:
This is what we like to return home with!
We love those Dutch chocolate sprinkles. One of my children spent ages researching where to buy them here but they were only available posted from the Netherlands. That was about a year ago so it might have changed.
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