Flat Ben

August 2013 - look where Flat Ben ended up!

Flat Ben's visit to Bredon, England

Flat Ben has been staying with Megan Woodward (age 9), a cousin of Jack & Sophie Wilson.  Megan lives with her family in the village of Bredon, which is on the border of the counties of Gloucestershire & Worcestershire in the West of England, on the edge of an area called the Cotswolds.  Here is a picture of Megan and Flat Ben outside her house, built in the 1920's. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bredon

Megan has taken Flat Ben on a few days out during his stay.

West Midlands Safari Park

This is near the town of Kidderminster and is home to many different animals, Megan went here with her Brownie pack.  They drove around the reserve, seeing animals from around the world, then watched a sea lion show and rode on the roller coasters and other rides.  Flat Ben enjoyed seeing the Penguins. 

                                                       

Ragley Hall

Flat Ben visited this stately home, near Stratford upon Avon, with Megan, her mum Louise and her friend Poppy. They enjoyed the adventure play ground, finding their way through a maze and walking through the grounds and gardens.  Ragley Hall was built in 1680 and belongs to the Marquis and Marchioness of Hertford.

  

 Oxford

This city is famous for its University and has many old buildings and interesting architecture.  Megan's family took Flat Ben with them to visit the city and enjoyed looking at the buildings, and had fun punting on the river.  This is boating using a long pole to move along, Megan's dad, Andrew, was doing this and found it quite hard work as it was difficult to keep balance. Unfortunately Flat Ben can't be seen in the picture on the boat, but he had great fun.

 Ross on Wye Regatta

Flat Ben experienced more time by the water when he went to watch Megan's brother, Tom, competing in a rowing regatta on the river Wye.  Ross on Wye is near the Welsh border.

Flat Ben also had a few days away on holiday with Megan to the seaside.  They stayed in the village of Croyde, which is in North Devon in the south west of England.  This area is good for surfing and there are some great beaches.  Flat Ben enjoyed playing in the sand and watching Megan build a sand castle.

 

                               

Megans grandparents live a couple of miles away from Bredon, in a village called Kemerton, which was where Jack and Sophie lived before they moved to Auckland.  Their house is the oldest in the village and dates back to the Tudor times, built 400 years ago.  The house is made with beams and wattle and daub, which was a method used at that time, and uses woven sticks and mud between the beams.  He found some old milk churns outside the house, from the family's dairy business, and was interested to see an English post box too.

 

 

Flat Ben was most surprised to meet some visitors from Auckland there.  He met Bob & Jan Wilson who are Jack and Sophies other grandparents, who were visiting while on holiday.  He also met Flat Ethan, who was staying with Megan's cousin, Archie.  They all enjoyed an exciting ride up 'Bredon Hill' in an old Willis jeep, and helped umpire a game of tennis.

On another visit to Kemerton Flat Ben met more New Zealanders, the Buckingham family who were also on their holidays.  Jack and Sam also go to Shelly Park Primary School!              

Flat Ben seemed to enjoy his trip to England, and probably stayed longer than he should have done.  Hopefully he is enjoying his journey back to New Zealand, travelling 1st Class postage with Royal Mail.

February 2013
Greetings fellow reader.

I am Flat Ben, the writer of this story. You are welcome to read my book but be warned you could become flat yourself! I wrote this book at my school, Shelly Park in New Zealand, you know. My age is 7 and 3/4.  I drive my parents crazy with Jazz from my keyboard and French tunes on my harmonica.

I live with my mum and dad and my cat Jack and my dog RJ. I am an only child. We take in exchange  students from all over the world to live with us and learn English.

My favourite food is jaffa cakes.

I am flat because once a big blind old lady sat on me on the bus. Did I mention she was blind? That’s why I got sat on and became flat.

I look forward to writing more about our travels this year together.

May 2013: Flat Ben went travelling to Campbellsburg Elementary School in Kentucky, USA

Grace's teacher Ms Paas also sent this note about their class:

March 2013

Some of Flat Ben's first travels were to his home to photograph some of his favourite places and activities for us all to share