By Jordan Mitchell
Eagle Hills Multiple 4-H Club
This past summer I embarked on a journey of a lifetime. Three weeks in a different country with no one I knew.
To some people this might sound a little scary, but I knew everything would turn out great as it was a trip that I applied for and won through 4-H Canada.
I was to stay with three different families (one a week) to experience different parts of the country I had selected to visit, England.
My first week was spent in Bedfordshire, which is a county relatively close to London. Every day of the first week I went out with different members from different clubs in the county of the England version of 4-H, Young Farmers. I got to experience a variety of different activities. The trip was an agricultural based experience, so I got to see many animal farms, which consisted mostly of dairy, as well as arable.
That first week I also got the chance to be a classic tourist. I got to visit London for a day and go on the London Eye. I got to go punting in Cambridge and walk around the town, which was absolutely stunning. And my favourite day while staying in Bedfordshire was going to Woburn Abbey and the Woburn safari park.
My second week I stayed in North Yorkshire. This whole week was amazing. The family I was staying with were camping out for the three days of the Great Yorkshire Show which is the biggest agriculture show in England. This was the biggest eye opener to the agricultural differences between Canada and England.
My third and final week was spent in Staffordshire where I once again toured around lots of farms including dairy, chicken, fruit and arable.
My three weeks in England was only half of my awarded trip as a girl of the family I stayed with for the second week, Charlotte, came to stay with my family for three weeks herself. We took her out to many farms in the Battleford area, took her to some historical places like Fort Battleford and we even managed to get her all the way out to British Columbia to go camping, white water rafting and hiking.
My summer was full of new experiences, new friends and new memories that will last a lifetime. I am so thankful for this trip of a lifetime that was provided to me through 4-H.
