The children settled very well last night and were up and ready for breakfast in the morning.  With bacon, eggs, sausages, beans, tomatoes, cereal, toast, pain au chocolat and croissants, there was plenty for everybody's tastes.

Straight after, we picked up our packed lunches and headed to Picton Castle Gardens.  The gardens of this wonderful country house have been maintained beautifully and are filled with magical areas.  We enjoyed finding the trees along the fairy trail, finding the ice house and the ancient oak, meeting the sunflowers and finding out about the animals who visit the pond - apparently it sees quite a lot of swallows hunt for food!  While we were eating, we had a close encounter with another beautiful bird - a robin.  Some groups were also privileged to experience the display of vintage lawnmowers.

The Castle Gardens have sections with some amazing trees that can be climbed and explored and it seemed to the perfect opportunity to perform a song from 'The Jungle Book' in an appropriately arboreal setting.  In the afternoon, we returned to the hostel giving the children an opportunity to get their rooms tidy for a room inspection.  

We headed to the beach for an hour or so before dinner for some very windy games in the sand including a rock-throwing contest, jellyfish spotting and some creative dam-building.  

After dinner, the children had a choice.  Some returned to the beach for more adventures as the sun set; others engaged in board game competitions at the hostel including chess, scrabble and more! 

The children are now settling down for the night after another splendid day!