A fun day out in Beamish

Fiona persuaded me to accompany her and her class to Beamish today. Six adults and 33 kids (All about 10 years old, give or take).

We set off at 8.15 am. About 100 miles, two and a quarter hours and one child vomiting all over Fiona later we arrived.

A lovely sunny day thankfully because we have not had many of those recently. We split into groups . I was reliably informed that my group were 'hand picked' hmmmm

We visited the town via tram to see the bank, dentist, grocers, garage. And then the kids woke up when we got to the sweetshop Unfortunately they were not manufacturing, but the kids still bought plenty of sweets toe at before lunch.

Lunch was outside the old school, and then we went inside for an arranged '1897 lesson' Wow how strict. I was terrified. The teacher just about had total control over the class, there was hardly a murmur. Though the leather whip was prominent (but not used). The most amazing thing was the way the children reacted. They were very well behaved with hand going up, no shouting out, getting on with their work. After a while the teacher snapped her fingers and said "right, back to 2007", and blow me over, didn't the kids immediately snap back to 2007 behaviour? Unbelievable

Next into the cottages where the children had to do some cleaning (beat rugs, polish, scrub floors and empty bed pans. One or two grumbled and asked if they were to be paid!

Then down the coal mine to see the working conditions, closely followed by an ice cream and gift shop

When we arrived back at school the headteacher was rather alarmed because we had one less child! Honestly. There was one less that when we set off!

Actually, we took Hayden with us, and he stayed over there with his Aunt Janet so all was well.

A good day, and I got to find out who everyone fancies!