Warwick Castle & Motor Museums with Darren & Ayshea

 Warwick Castle & Motor Museums 

It was off to Warwick castle, one of the biggest and most complete castles in the country. 

It was straight to The Falconers Quest where we listened to the story of how Warwick wanted to bring home the birds of prey to Warwickshire. We saw some pretty impressive birds of prey from owls, eagles and many more. We had brilliant seats as these powerful birds flew right over our heads. 

On arrival we met Queen Elizabeth l and William Shakespeare, before heading off into the castle to look around the state rooms. The first room was the most impressive with two full size knights on horseback in full armour and the walls were covered in weapons.

Excitedly we headed off to the British Car Museum which celebrates British Motoring past and present. We followed the timeline of the development of cars in Britain and the display also showed us what the roads used to be like back it the olden days.

 We admired the various displays and recognised some of the cars which had been used in the famous films such as Back to the Future and some James Bond films. The 3-wheel yellow Robin Reliant from Only Fools and Horses was on display as was Delboy’s upgraded lime green Ford Capri.

Another brilliant morning was spent at the British Motorcycle Museum, a collection of 850 British made motorbikes dating back to 1889. The collection is divided into 5 halls, each focusing on different makers, and categorised into sections such as road bikes, utility bikes and working bikes (police, ambulance etc). 

There were even bikes with machine guns and collapsible bikes that could be parachuted into areas of war. At the shop we made friends with two lovely ladies that worked there, and they chatted to us while we ate our lunch from the café, which was super. 

For all of our chocolate lovers amongst the group we headed to the infamous Cadbury World where we were in heaven! The day started well when we were given chocolate bars at the entrance! First, we learnt about the history of how we came to have chocolate as we walked through scenes from South America courtesy of a Spaniard named Cortez. 

It was fascinating to hear how the Cadbury brothers developed their business from a small shop to a large business known around the world. The brothers were Quakers and they really cared about the work force, so much so that they built a whole village with schools, doctors and dentists for their workers. Along the way we got some tasters of the delicious, melted chocolate which we got to top with a variety of tasty treats. 

We loved having our photo taken with Freddo the Frog and The Carmel Bunny.

Thorpe Park & Chessington with Ellie & Midi

 Thorpe Park & Chessington 

Three thrill seeking days were spent whizzing around, twisting and turning on some of the countries biggest rides.  

With over 40 rides there was soemthing for everyone. Like a bat out of hell, we soared through the sky on the old school ride-Vampire. Our legs dangled below as we soared over the treetops looking at the people below. 

For this bunch of dare devils was Stealth which is the UK's fastest roller coaster which launched us to 205ft at 80mph in just 2.5 seconds! Wow- what a ride! We twisted and turned on SAW, feeling very dizzy when we got off.

The teacups were a hit with our group. There were smiles on our faces as we span around, getting faster and faster. 

We were plunged 25m into the jaws of a crocodile, Sobek, the ancient Egyptian Crocodile God and protector of the Nile. The Blue Barnacle took us on a nautical adventure sailing through the skies in Pirates’ Cove. 

We got wet and wild as we plunged down the super-soaking 85ft drop on Tidal Wave and played splash roulette on the Island’s ferocious Rumba Rapids. We laughed our (wet) socks off when we saw everyone’s incredibly wet clothes! 

 Our last ride of the day was on Zufari a thrilling off road journey where we came face to face with wonderful African animals such as White Rhino, Giraffe and Zebra.

We drove to an incredible historical site called Mountfitchet Castle, a unique open air museum experience! We walked around the huge castle and Norman village, stopping in houses to find out more about what life was like over 900 years ago in a medieval village.

There were log fires burning, chickens running around and castle towers to climb. We then had lunch in the cafe, enjoying our sandwiches and soaking up the atmosphere. There was even some animal feed to buy, and we all had a go at feeding the beautiful Fallow deer’s and other rescued animals that live here. Next, we made our way to the Toy Museum, which was like an Aladin’s cave, full to burst with old toys we recognised from our childhoods - even some mobile phones we used to have!

 We had organised a surprise activity at Hertford Rugby Club to join in with the training session for the mixed ability team! The coaches were brilliant and took us through some training drills, we threw the rugby balls into hoops and scored so many goals! We did some passing games and a bit of running before a quick break! To finish we put on our belts and coloured strips of fabric ready for a friendly game of tag rugby! Some of the rugby players from the team helped us out and many of the JollyDays group had a go for the first time at tag rugby

It was game on down at the bowling alley where there were some great scores and a few strikes. It was great to see every showing great sportsmanship.