The weather was kind to us for our day in Rock Park. There were a few drops of rain at lunchtime but the proper rain held off until we were on our way home in the coaches. 
It was quite a sight to see the whole school (180 children) walking with mums and grans and younger brothers and sisters all the way through Barnstaple to spend a day in the recently refurbished Rock Park.
It took about 45 minutes to walk there, we had 2 road crossings to negotiate and the 2nd half of the walk was alongside the river. We had lots of helpers but it is still stressful to be responsible for 28 small children.
I felt saddened when we were walking along Ladies Mile, to see that every one of the dolphins / fish ? at the bottom of the lampposts, had been defaced by spray painting.
My spirits were lifted by the simple design of this gateway into a walled garden. Rock Park itself is not spectacular but does have a new play area, plenty of grass to run around on and decent toilets. They are the new sort springing up all over the area , which have an automated hand washing system which first squirts soap at you, then sprays water and finally blows air to dry your hands. Some of the children were a little disconcerted by the automatic flush where you hold your hand in front of a sensor. Apologies for the detailed description but at my age I get quite impressed by these automatic gizmos. We had a smashing day at the park, we set up activities and spent half an hour at each : playground, football, parachute games, story time, kite making and bats & balls as well as our picnic. Simple pleasures , all low cost and all local. Rain set in as I drove home and the forecast is for another wet weekend, oh joy! It's all peaceful at home as Romas has gone down to Bude for band practice and partying. It looks as if the tour, (2 weeks around the country) is going ahead. That will be fun for them.
It was quite a sight to see the whole school (180 children) walking with mums and grans and younger brothers and sisters all the way through Barnstaple to spend a day in the recently refurbished Rock Park.
It took about 45 minutes to walk there, we had 2 road crossings to negotiate and the 2nd half of the walk was alongside the river. We had lots of helpers but it is still stressful to be responsible for 28 small children.
I felt saddened when we were walking along Ladies Mile, to see that every one of the dolphins / fish ? at the bottom of the lampposts, had been defaced by spray painting.
My spirits were lifted by the simple design of this gateway into a walled garden. Rock Park itself is not spectacular but does have a new play area, plenty of grass to run around on and decent toilets. They are the new sort springing up all over the area , which have an automated hand washing system which first squirts soap at you, then sprays water and finally blows air to dry your hands. Some of the children were a little disconcerted by the automatic flush where you hold your hand in front of a sensor. Apologies for the detailed description but at my age I get quite impressed by these automatic gizmos. We had a smashing day at the park, we set up activities and spent half an hour at each : playground, football, parachute games, story time, kite making and bats & balls as well as our picnic. Simple pleasures , all low cost and all local. Rain set in as I drove home and the forecast is for another wet weekend, oh joy! It's all peaceful at home as Romas has gone down to Bude for band practice and partying. It looks as if the tour, (2 weeks around the country) is going ahead. That will be fun for them.
