Hardelot - Day 4

Welcome to the last day of our blog - can't quite believe a week has gone past already!

The excitement of the week finally caught up with the children today and we had a very quiet group for most of the day.  It made quite a change!

Today we visited two museums about World War 2.  The first, La Coupole, was a museum within a bunker.  It taught the children all about the V1 and V2 bombs, and touched on other areas of the war too. 

The second, Le Blockhaus d'Eperlecques, showed the children the site where the V2 bombs were going to be built and launched, had it not been for the British bombing and destroying it first. 

The children then had free time this afternoon, where they played a mixture of the different activities available at the Centre.

The food here has been fantastic and I think its safe to say we are all returning having put on some weight!  At dinner time today Sara came in to say goodbye and told us just how delighted she was at the children's behaviour and politeness throughout the week.  They have been a real credit to the school this week.

Tomorrow we are heading to Chateau d'Hardelot in the morning and the children will be once again buying their own lunch before heading back to the EuroTunnel.  We look forward to returning to school - the children can't wait to tell you all about everything we didn't put in the blog!

Hardelot - Day 3

Who would have thought that a residential in March would require suntan lotion rather than woolly hats and scarves?!  Today was yet another beautiful day here at Hardelot, without a cloud in the sky.

You will be pleased to know that all the children have now showered so you shouldn't have any smelly children returning to you on Friday! 

The day started with a trip to the market in Boulogne where the children had a chance to look around.  We then set them the task of buying lunch speaking only in French.  Amazingly, every child was able to ask for what they wanted and hand over the correct money with only a little help from the teachers.  Not content with bread and ham, the children opted for an array of different foods - including salami, olives, chillis, dried apricot and strawberries!  Archie and Ellie in particular did really well with their French and were soon asking for things in French with no teacher in sight!

After a brief stop at the look-out point in Boulogne, we determined it was too misty to see the UK so moved on. 

As the weather was so nice we decided on a slight change to our itinery and went to the beach in Le Touquet instead.  This, according to the children, was the highlight of the holiday so far.  We ate our hard-earned lunches, then the children had a play in the sand.  This began with Joseph and Archie being buried up to their necks in sand and interesting 'designs' being made on them by Harrison and Ben!?!? 

Joseph decided he was then going to dig to China, which all the boys joined in helping.  They claim to have almost made it, but got a little bored so went to play football with Mr Ball instead.  After a couple of hours, we ventured down to the water's edge, where the children paddled their feet.  Somehow Abbie ended up a little soaked and had to wear a towel around her waist for the journey home!

Scary stories in the dark finished the evening and we are soon heading to bed - a mixture of long days and sea air have tired the children out. 

Come back tomorrow for our penultimate day here in Hardelot.

PS - the children have really enjoyed reading the comments from everyone - thank you so much for taking the time to write something.  If you are reading this, feel free to add something more...

Hardelot - Day 2

Hellooooo!  The children seem to have found their feet today, so we had a very......interesting day!

The teachers got up at seven only to find the boys were already up, dressed and ready to go for the day.  The girls didn't do quite so well as only Abbie was up.  Not surprisingly, the only two that wanted showers were still getting their 'beauty' sleep!

We set off for the day at 9.30, half an hour before expected and made our way to Montreuil-sur-mer.  After a long walk along the remparts we stopped for lunch, which had been made by the cooks at Hardelot. 

 Next it was off to the chocolate factory for a tour and the chance to find out how different types of chocolate are made.  The children were impeccably behaved and thought the chocolate was 'awesome-ige' (sorry, was told by Holly that I spelt it wrong in the last post!)

Back at the Centre, we were then treated to a cake-making demonstration from Valerie and Sandrine, the on-site cooks.  The children learnt a lot more French words, and thoroughly enjoyed themselves.  They also liked eating the cake for dinner!

It was after the cake demonstration that the children properly began bonding when the girls decided they wanted to apply the face marks they had brought with them.  Not to be left out, the boys decided to join in and were soon covered in face masks having their hair put in bunches by the girls!  They paraded down to dinner, keen to show Sara.  This then sparked an impromptu talent show, with the teachers being judges and Harrison claiming his name was "Tracey" in a Scottish accent.  Joseph found he could clap with his feet and we were given a rousing version of 'Don't Stop Me Now' by all seven children!

More to follow tomorrow after our visit to Boulogne!