Clumber Lake

Today, we walked the five miles around Clumber Lake. The lake was created by damming the River Poulter in 1772 and took fifteen years to complete. The overflow runs over the dam and back into the river course. Despite the torrent of water, the ducks seemed to like the dam, too! On the other side … Read more

Beowulf: Part 2

The thanes are sleeping. Grendel’s mother, who’s a sea hag, kills Ashhere. All of the thanes wake up. The sea hag escapes carrying her kill and Grendel’s arm. Hrothgar, the king of Denmark, asks Beowulf, a daring prince, to kill the sea hag. Beowulf goes to find the sea hag. He sees Ashhere’s head by … Read more

Wild Flowers

With an abundance of wild flowers about at the moment, we decided to go for a walk armed with our pocket guides. Here are some of our discoveries: Yellow irises Tall melilot Common bird’s-foot-trefoil (commonly known as ‘eggs and bacon’) Bladder campion Oxeye daisy Clover Knapweed Tufted vetch Dog-rose And a blue-headed, red-hump-backed magpie!

The Badgers are Back!

A working trip to the woods today also uncovered some exciting new discoveries. Early summer is always a busy time at the woods. With bramble and bracken going through a huge growth spurt, the paths were more than ready for clearing. While Dad took care of the brush-cutting, we raked the campsite and gave the … Read more

Beowulf: Part One

We started reading Beowulf because it was mentioned in the Saxon book I read. The King of Demark, Hrothgar, gets a great hall built where people can eat. In the hall people listen to a story about how God created Earth. Outside the hall Grendel, a monster, listens to the story. Because the story is … Read more

Wild Camping

Yesterday, we returned from our first woodland camping trip of the year. We made two exciting discoveries during our time at the woods: a bee’s nest, unusually sited in a hole in the ground; and a wren’s nest, built of moss between two logs.

The Twits

The author of this children’s comedy is Roald Dahl. In the story we meet the Twits, who are nasty people, and find out what silly tricks they play on each other. They catch birds for bird pie, on Wednesdays. However, the four monkeys (who were captured by Mr Twit and Mrs Twit) with help from … Read more

Longstone Villages

Today, we went on a 4.5 mile walk, taking in part of the Monsal Trail and the Longstone villages. We started our walk at Monsal Head. After a steep descent to the trail, we stopped to take a couple of photos on the viaduct of the River Wye. Then, we entered the Headstone Tunnel which … Read more

Swallows and Amazons

The author of this classic adventure book is Arthur Ransome. In this book, it is the summer break and the Walker children are having a holiday on the farm. When the Walker children (Roger, John, Susan and Titty) see an island from the Peak of Darien, they ask their mother if they can explore the … Read more

Potatoes

Today, in science, we learned about potatoes. Then, we planted one. A potato is planted in the ground and it grows roots. At the end of the roots potatoes, which are a thickened part of the root, start to grow. The potatoes are dug up and the eyes form roots. This is the life cycle … Read more