Lower Fourth students loved the opportunity to enrich their Geography learning with a wonderful day at the coast in Llandudno, North Wales. Taking half of the year group at a time on two separate days, we had two excellent fieldwork trips.

The students on the first trip were lucky enough to have clear blue skies for part of the day, although it was very windy initially. Thankfully, there was no rain. Despite ominous forecasts for the second trip, the weather was, surprisingly, similarly as good for the students on the second trip. It was much greyer with some light rain at times, but it was nowhere near as bad as the forecast predicted and an enjoyable day was had. On both days, students spent time in and around the town of Llandudno, the ‘Queen of Resorts’, practising fieldwork data collection techniques and identifying physical geography landforms and human geography coastal defences that have been studied in the classroom.

The day started at the smaller and quieter West Shore location, where students identified coastal management strategies which were successfully protecting homes and businesses from erosion and flooding. They then conducted environmental quality surveys before a short walk across the peninsula to move to the far bigger and busier North Shore area for a comparison. The North Shore is the main tourist area of Llandudno, situated between the Great Orme and the Little Orme limestone headlands. At North Shore in particular, students got to see first-hand how geographical processes can form spectacular scenery, such as headlands and bays. Elements of human geography were also clearly visible, such as extensive coastal defences, and hotels, facilities and activities orientated towards tourism.

Students and teachers alike appreciated the opportunity to stop for a lunch break in the bandstand on the North Shore promenade, before heading further towards the Little Orme for a clearer view of other aspects of human geography, including one of the largest offshore wind farms in the UK in Llandudno Bay. With diagrams and photographs correctly labelled and annotated with geographical details, and fieldwork data accurately collected, there was then 45 minutes to enjoy a spot of souvenir shopping in the centre of Llandudno itself. Some students even had a second lunch in KFC!