Every year the College visits a major European city during the Spring half-term in order to enhance appreciation of European cultural heritage, with art, architecture, music and drama a prime focus. In recent years the College has visited Amsterdam, Rome and Barcelona. This year the College traveled to the Spanish capital Madrid, with twenty students joining the six members of staff. It was a truly wonderful trip, creating many fond memories for all that participated.

View from a member of staff

“Ashbourne organises a college trip every year during the February half term to a European city. The 2009 trip was to Madrid and about 20 students and 5 members of staff took the plunge and decided that a tiring and action packed week right in the middle of term was exactly what they needed.

Our plan was to have plenty of fun, whilst gaining some cultural experiences and sticking to a budget. Although there were only 25 of us in total, we were spread across 9 different nationalities and spending one week together was a great opportunity to learn about each other as well as the Spanish culture.

My personal highlights were eating tapas, whilst watching Flamenco in an underground bar, lazing around together in the sunny Parque del Buen Retiro, and visiting the modern “Reina Sofia” art gallery which boasts fabulous Picasso and Dali originals. The guys especially got really into the flamenco lesson on the last day, which has provided me with some hilarious moments to remember the trip by.”