Year 5’s Visit to Nettlecombe Court

On Monday 11th June Year 5 set off to Nettlecombe Court in Somerset. We were all very excited . It was a really long drive and we went past Stonehenge. After a long time, we finally arrived at the huge house of Nettlecombe Court. First we were given our rooms and settled in. Then we did a house trail where we had five questions to answer to help us learn our way around the centre. On Tuesday we visited Dunster Castle and learned about life below stairs in a Victorian household. We all dressed up as either housemaids or footmen. Mr Wilks and Mr Garrard made very pretty maids! After that we visited the village of Dunster and did some shopping for gifts. We returned to Nettlecombe by steam train in time for our tea.

On Wednesday we went on a river walk to follow the course of the River Horner. It was a beautiful day and we stopped to measure its flow rate, width and depth. Some people got rather wet and six people fell in! We also made some environmental art. That evening we had a campfire and Mr Garrard taught us some silly songs and we sang a song in parts. I liked making up the songs about the teachers.

On Thursday we studied water habitats. We did pond dipping and explored a stream. After a picnic lunch, we went to Porlock Bay and climbed over some large rocks to see what we could find in the rock pools and to have a scavenger hunt. After dinner, we set mammal traps. When we went back to check them in the morning we found two mice which we set free. Then sadly it was time to get on the coach and head home. We were all exhausted after one exciting week.