THIRTY FIVE children and three teachers went on a residential trip to Earls Orchard field study centre in Richmond, North Yorkshire.

We had a whale of a time.

The first activity we did was horse riding. This was a brand new experience for us - even getting on the horse proved to be a challenge.

But now we think we are all good enough to be in the Grand National.

After a tiring time horse riding we spent the afternoon finding creatures in the river.

It was wet, but great - the two children who fell in particularly enjoyed themselves.

On Wednesday we walked to Easby Abbey via a huge waterfall.

We found out how the monks lived and we even walked around performing Gregorian chant, just like they would have done.

It was interesting but freezing, due to the rain and the fact that most of the roof was missing.

That night, as if we were not wet enough from the rain, we went swimming. That was great but made us even more tired.

Each night, we went to the centre to do schoolwork, have dinner and, of course, rest after the long day. Thursday brought more rain.

We were shown how to read maps and use coordinates - very complicated.

We then went walking, trying to find our way with the map.

It was amazing we didn't get completely lost.

The trouble was, it was raining so much we were fed up.

Luckily, the Green Howards Museum took pity on us and let us in to complete a treasure hunt.

By Friday, we were tired and ready to go home, but we were also a little sad to leave because we'd had such a great time.