Vendredi varewell

Well here it is the final blog from a fantastic week. A beautiful spring morning at the Chateau saw the C of E children coming to grips with skills of case packing!! (or not - goodness knows what'll you'll find in there!).  We then went for a tour of the the small town of Rue where the Chateau is situated. We saw some beautiful buildings and even an elephants grave (yes really!)

The townie, no Home Bargains in sight!

A bit different from St Chad's

War memorial in Rue

Je voudrais un chocolat chaud si vu plait (they all asked for one)

All gripped by the view of the Channel!

Peace at last!

Are we nearly home yet???!!

Then finally after what seemed an long journey from Dover, Kirkby came into view and the trip was at an end.  37 children 4 staff and quite a few teddy bears had "done France"and we and them had survived!  Many thanks for all your comments, we hope the children are full of stories of French life and not just blue smurf haribo stories! Au revoir et a bientot.

Jeudi Jaunts

Another packed schedule meant we were on the road for 9am with a beautiful sunny start.  The trip to the Albert Museum was a fascinating look at life for the soldiers in WW1 all set in half a mile of underground tunnels.

In the tunnels of the Albert Museum experiencing life in the trenches during WW1

We then travelled a few miles to visit some of the battlefield sites and memorials.

Trekking through the trenches at the Newfoundland Memorial

The Thiepval Memorial to the Missing of the Somme.

Adam finds a familiar name amongst the 72,000 lost souls.

After the Battlefield visit we returned back to the Chateau for an evening of team games and a taste of French cuisine.

English Chips, Americal hotdogs and French frog legs and...Jamie.

Holly and Lucy leave the horse, I mean beef burgers for the true delights of French cuisine- frogs' legs and snails ....mmmmmmmmmmmmm


  

                                               



Practising for the long journey home!

Well that nearly brings us to the end of a fantastic week - hopefully one which the children will remember for a long time.  They've all been a credit and a real pleasure to be with , but we'll be handing them back to you at about 11.30pm on Friday night!  Keep an eye on Twitter and text messages for updates on the journey and arrival time.

Mercredi Magic

An early start today and off to the Chocolate Factory we went. We spent an hour learning how the French make their fantastic chocolate and even had a taste mmmmm!  Then it was a visit to a traditional farm where they make Goats Cheese, and then a busy afternoons activities back at le Chateau.

The oompa loompas waiting for the arrival of Willy Wonka

Partof the "menagerie" at the Goats' Cheese Farm

The process of Goats'Cheese production explained to interested

                                   children in French!

Preparing to climb Mt Blanc... sorry the climbing wall.

The blind leading the blind!

It's fun to stay at the ... Chateau du Broutel....

Seek and ye shall find on the Scavenger Hunt!





Off to the Somme Battlefields tomorrow so an early start to what will be a memorable day.

Mardi Apres Midi

After the visit to the market and a delicious lunch of French omlette and fries we headed off into the Chateau grounds for some afternoon adventure.

Ella leads the school in Gangnam "French" style.

Jake does the "penguin slide"

J'aime le tree



Salut Cava Luke Le Street



Colby (ab)seiling into the sunset

Dix plus dix est vingt

And after a hard days sightseeing and out door adventure activities we headed of to bed.!!



They're "terrrrrrifffficcccc" says Mr Tennant





Mardi Market

Well after a lovely nights sleep (apart from the thunder, lightening and hail stones) we awoke bright and early for a great breakfast (croissant!) before heading off to Etaples for a trip around the market.  We had a good attempt speaking  French and managed to get what we wanted (well mostly).

Like Kirkby market but a bit posher!



Cinq enfants mange du pain.




Ooooooo les bon bon




Healthy eating in any country.

Then we headed back for dejeuner and an afternoon adventure in the grounds of the Chateau.  We'll share some of the dare devil pics later.  Tout l'heure.

Blue skies over......

Well after a few hundred miles travelling, a calm ferry crossing and spot the difference when we arrived in France we landed at the Chateau du Broutel at 4pm local time.  Minimum travel sickness and we all enjoyed a game of hunt the case and Chateau Olympics! Pictures to follow tomorrow, bed calls!!!!!!

Bags packed yet?

Well here we are only 3 more sleeps (well 2 and a half really) until the intrepid team depart for France.  Hope all your bags are nearly packed and you've remembered everything especially your sleeping bags, towels and warm clothes.  The coach will arriving at 4.30am so please be on the car park opposite school between 4.30 and 4.50am.  See you there.  Au revoir.