The Children’s Reviews of Patterdale!
On Monday 16th March, we set off to Patterdale Hall. When we arrived, we were told all about the place and the building and then we began lunch. We then opened our bags and packed for our first activity. Our favourite activity was ghyll scrambling, even though it was freezing! There were several optional jumps, tunnels and even a slide in the current. All of those fun activities took a lot of courage and help from friends to keep us going. We got out of the ghyll after scrambling up it, but we still felt as cold as before. We warmed up a bit after a small walk back to the changing rooms and began to take our fleeces and wetsuits off.
Another water activity was canoeing. After getting the paddles and canoes ready we were allocated into small groups on each canoe. We set off in our two groups and began rowing towards some land. After about five or ten minutes, we were at our goal. We played some fun games there and then began making our way to a corner where the wind couldn’t catch us. We played some more fun games like: fruit smoothie: when your fruit was said, you had to spin around in a circle and shout “YOOOO!”; also a game which you were assigned an animal and when that animal was said you had to swap places with another person that was that animal across all the canoes and finally dunk the body part!
We also did some more land activities like bushcraft and rock-climbing. Rock-climbing tested our trust for each other and our instructors. Our instructors had to tie a very secure knot and our friends had to help pull the rope so that if we fell, we wouldn’t fall very much at all. When we reached the top – which would have been impossible without our friends – we had to lean back and de-scale slowly. We then would reach the bottom and swap turns with the other two people in our group. In bushcraft, we had to build a shelter (with a lot of team-work), make bread over a fire and light a mini cotton fire as well. All of these skills took a lot of determination but were really fun. We also got to try some vinegar leaves which were fabulous too.
All of the rooms were really good: the beds were comfy, the shelves were very handy and the rooms were quite spacious. The bathroom was wonderful and the shower worked perfectly fine (just like a home one). The bunk – beds felt very nice and gave us a cosy vibe.
The food was amazing and it is some of the best food we have ever had. The chicken – skewers and pizza were our favourite food and the pudding was delicious.
We really enjoyed Patterdale Hall and definitely recommend it to future years.
By Ashton & Grayson
Thank you to all the Teachers who have given us an amazing experience. We really enjoyed ghyll -scrambling (where we jumped from the top of about a 7ft drop). We also enjoyed army crawling through tight spaces: like tunnels.
We also loved the climbing; it wasn’t just a climbing wall it was a proper rock-face. It was much harder to climb but much more of a pleasure to go up.
Next, we were given canoes and we started to advance towards our goal. When we got their we played fruit salad (were when the instructors shouted a fruit and if you were that fruit you had to swap with another person who was the same fruit as you). After that, we raced and of course our canoe won!
Bradley and Robin
We really enjoyed the experience at Patterdale Hall! On the first day we went canoeing, even though the weather was bad we had a fun time. We enjoyed the part where we did the fruit salad game and we all had to swap places. We also enjoyed when we had to get the ducks out of the water. We then went back and got dry and went down into the lounge to get lunch, after that we went upstairs to go and see our rooms and started to unpack. Our rooms were really wonderful and tidy, we also had room checks every morning and night.
On the second day, we woke up and got ready for the day, then we went downstairs for breakfast and it was amazing! We then went back up and got our day bags ready for rock climbing. When we got up the hill, we got harnesses on ready to climb. We had to step out of our comfort zone and try new things, as well as climbing we helped others by belaying and pulling the ropes. We then went back and went to have our lunch, after that we got ready to do bushcraft although we didn’t need as much things for it. When we got to the place for bushcraft, we started by putting all our stuff down and playing a game, we had some ducks and had to hide them one group at a time and we had a time limit. We then had to make a shelter for a rubber duck in case anything happened to a real duck. We started by grabbing loads of supplies such as: sticks, stones and leaves. Our instructor was great and encouraged us to do more things. We also went outside for some free time playing things like tig ( which was really fun).
On the third day we woke up, got ready, then went to have our breakfast (which was really scrumptious!) Then after that we grabbed our day bags and headed off to the cloak room where we had to get on our wet suits and our fleeces, we then headed down and started walking where we were doing ghyll scrambling. Once we got there, we had a choice to get into the ghyll, we could either go through a tunnel or go in normally. Once we had got in, our instructors told us about which coloured rocks are slippery so we don’t hurt ourselves or trip over. We also had to go through a tunnel which made us a bit nervous but our instructors encouraged us and it turned out to be really fun.
LAYLA & ALICE
We did lots of fun activities ghyll-scrambling, canoeing, rock-climbing and bushcraft. All of us enjoyed our activities at Patterdale Hall. Ghyll scrambling was quite challenging: we were all pushed out of our comfort-zones, Our instructors were great and extremely trust-worthy. They helped us all when we were scared and encouraged us to things we weren’t comfortable with. We did a short jump of a rock and then a towering jump. It was really thrilling even though we were scared.
Rock-climbing was very fun as well. They were real rocks near the top of a hill (Oxford-Crag). We were in groups of three: one person was climbing; another was belaying and someone else was pulling out the leftover rope after the belayer. It looked quite small but when we were at the of the climb it was larger than it looked and u could see all Ullswater, which is a lake near Patterdale, and people on canoes.
By Mason and Harley
Recently we have been on a residential to Patterdale Hall where we had lots of fun and loads of challenges, we really put ourselves out of our comfort zone. Even if we were very anxious: for an example when we went gyll-scrambling We were really nervous at first because we didn’t know if we were good at it or not.
In the morning we had cereal after that you can get a English breakfast including : bacon, sausage, egg, potato . Our experience was amazing I couldn’t of asked for a better residential . Not just us but all of class 4 had a great time ! we are so grateful for all the staff and all the entertainment.
On the way back from canoeing ,the path was extremely slippery . One of us face-planted in the mud and I can tell you that I was not expecting that!
Lois and Skyla
We went to Patterdale Hall it was a life lasting memory and it was a great experience. We were getting nerves but now the trip has passed it feels silly because we had such a great time!
We had a great adventure with bush craft on the first day. We made fires and cooked dough on the fire. It tased delicious! We had so much fun. We enjoyed making animal houses and learning more about the outdoors.
That is not all the fun we had, next we did canoeing. It was so amazing! We played lots of games but our favourite game was when we had to dunk different body parts into the water. We got a brain freeze, I’m still recovering!
After that great fun, we did climbing. We walked up the beautiful country side hills. It was an extraordinary view. It was really incredible! We learnt a lot of new skills.
Our favourite activity was ghyll scrambling! We got into wet suits and set of to the ghyll. It was challenging at times but with team work and determination, all had a great time! We all had a go at the different jumps and Some people had to go at going through the tunnels.
All of the instructors were amazing, they supported us when we needed it. They taught us amazing new skills.
By May and Isabel