“I am at Grenville and today I went raft building, we had to wear a wetsuit (they were really tight). After that we had to go to a storage room and get a helmet and a life jacket. Then we had to build the raft. We learnt to do two types of ties. The first one was a square knot and a reef knot. We had to sit on gigantic plastic bottles.” -Robbie

We woke to exceptional weather and everyone couldn’t wait to get to their activities. The ‘Rafters’ had great fun in the marina, the kayakers played ‘stuck in the mud’ and ‘swimmer rescue’, the shoppers checked out almost every shop in Brixham and the climbers met new heights on the high rope course – all under the most beautiful sunny skies! 

After an amazing evening meal of sweet and sour chicken or chicken korma we headed to the harbour for an hour or so of crabbing.  Great fun was had and we caught a grand total of four crabs which we entered for the famous crab race! Later we went onto Breakwater beach where we played throwing games and learnt to skim stones. It was a great end to the most amazing day. 

“Today when we arrived we found ourselves in the lounge of Grenville House. We were organised into dorms. After a few minutes we had a tour and we had lunch. After that we got into our swimming stuff like wetsuit, helmets and our life jackets and brang them to the slipway for kayaking” – George

Today was switch-over day, we said goodbye to half our group and welcomed the rest. We did some more raft building and kayaking today, some of us even had a visit from a big friendly seal! The instructors challenged us to some tricky moves on the kayaks and the rafts, there were some amazing skills on show (and plenty of us ended up in the sea!).

There were some very interesting sandwich choices this morning, including cheese and jam! We were assured it was delicious though.

Other groups headed into town for an explore of the quayside and the high street, as well as some huge boats moored up in the harbour, which looked like they were full of pirates.

 This evening we returned to the Berry Head hotel for the second group to do some swimming in their lovely, posh pool. We saw yet more seals and an amazing sunset. There was some competitive boules and other games and we all tired ourselves out having fun on the hotel lawn!

Finally we headed back for hot chocolate and to get ready for bed. We need plenty of sleep in time for tomorrow’s full day of fun!

Sunshine again, another scorcher!

We had another amazing day of activities. Canoeing, kayaking and climbing the high ropes, with hand-made sandwich lunch to break up the day. There was much excitement every time somebody chose the salad! We met some super nice instructors who helped us have a great time in the water and up in the air!

Some groups wandered into Brixham town today to peruse the wide array of sweet and ice-cream shops! We came back to Grenville House with plenty of souvenirs, sweets, toys and even a pink rubber chicken!

This evening we walked along to the Berry Head Hotel to have a swim in a luxury pool (with a jacuzzi!) and to watch the sun set over Brixham Harbour.

It was a beautiful end to the last full day (for the first group of the week). One more activity tomorrow morning and we’ll be heading home!

The Grenville Residential starts today! We arrived after a short coach journey just in time for a tour of the facilities and the dos and don’ts of Grenville life!

Laughter and merriment ensued as most of us made our first attempts at making a bed. After we’d recovered it was time for picnic lunch on the patio, overlooking the harbour.

Then we split into two groups and met our instructors for the day. Half the group learnt how to build a raft and played some games on the water and the other half climbed the high ropes, some even made the leap of faith!

After all the equipment was stowed we met for dinner, a vast pot of spaghetti bolognese and garlic bread, then apple crumble and custard for pudding!

We rounded the day off with an hour of crabbing off the harbourside and a walk to the beach to tire us out!

Up bright and early tomorrow for more adventure!

On Saturday afternoon, 20 Year 4 and Year 5 children took part in a special concert at Exeter Cathedral, as part of an outreach programme. Exwick Heights joined five other schools, the Devon County Junior Choir and the Cathedral Choristers to perform three songs together and one by themselves. The children behaved impeccably all afternoon and sung beautifully throughout each and every item. We were enormously proud of them and the concert, performed to a huge audience at the end of the afternoon, was enjoyed by all and was a wonderful event to be part of. Very well done Exwick Heights!