On Monday 15th July 2019 as part of activities week, we set off on our ‘Smugglers Trip.’ 

Firstly, we went to Chewton Bunny where we met Julie Ratcliffe, who was to be our tour guide. Julie is a local historian and author of children’s series, ‘Smugglers’ Town Mysteries.’ We also collected our workbooks and had a brief talk about what was going to happen and where we would visit. 

We then moved on to my favourite part of the trip, where we learnt about The Battle of Mudeford. It just so happened our trip was 235 years to the day after the battle had taken place. The battle between smugglers and Custom and Excise Officers happened on what is now Mudeford Quay car park. I loved this part of the day because I thought the area that I lived in did not have any interesting history, but now I know it does. 

During the trip we also got the chance to visit a secret room at the top of the Christchurch Priory that was once a schoolroom. We learnt about the history of the Priory and heard stories of how the boys would look out of the windows and see the smugglers’ ships coming in. 

 After our trip we came back into school and I spent the next day working on my game ‘Smugglers Smile’ inspired by our trip and the stories Julie told us.

- Daniel, Year 8