A Blue Peter Badge opens doors

Hello. My name is Harriet and I’m nine years old. I like ballet, swimming and, like a lot of people, my favourite TV programme is Blue Peter. I have been watching it for three years and look forward to watching it every Thursday.

My favourite moment ever on Blue Peter has to have been when Lindsey announced her challenge to perform a ballet – La Fille mal gardée – at the Royal Opera House in London. She was the flute boy.

There are many reasons why I love Blue Peter: the challenges are difficult; the presenters are funny and entertaining; and the things they make are things people would want to make, not things that people would get bored of easily.

A couple of months ago, my best friend and I sent in a drawing of the presenters and a letter in hope that we might get a Blue Peter badge. A couple of weeks later an envelope came in the post with my name on it. I was over the moon when I realized that it was from Blue Peter and I HAD WON A BLUE PETER BADGE! As well as the badge I received a letter that said that they had our drawing and had read our letter.

When my family and I went to visit my grandma and grandad in the school holidays, they took me to MediaCityUK as a surprise on the last day. I was soooooooooooooooo excited when mummy told me that we were going on the CBBC tour! As I had a Blue Peter badge I could get in for free.

As soon as we got there, we parked up and followed the signs to the Blue Peter garden. It was amazing! I saw the statue of Petra, Blue Peter’s very first dog, and the hand prints of Radzi, Barney, Lindsey, Iggy and Shelly.

We were met by our tour guides at the studios. First, we went to the CBBC office. There, we sat behind the desk and some people had a go at reading from an autocue. The adults and the children also did a quiz. Then we went to a radio studio and learnt some interesting facts about how they make the sound effects. After that, we went into a room with spiked foam blocks covering the walls and the ceiling, they were to 'deaden' the sound.

That part of the tour was extremely exiting, but my favourite bit of the tour by far was when we went into the Blue Peter studio. I learnt a lot and had tons of fun! I also got to walk through the entrance doors for guests while they called my name, stand behind the table where they make/cook, and I got my photo taken by the stage.

After we left the Blue Peter studio we went to the Newsround practice room. We sat on the judge panel for A Question of Sport, had a go at presenting the weather forecast, admired some Strictly Come Dancing dresses, and saw some pretty gory Horrible History props! Sadly that was the last bit of the tour.

It was a day I will never forget.

Harriet is a Blue Peter fan, aged nine.

• Blue Peter is broadcast at 5pm every Thursday, and repeated at 9am every Sunday, find out more about the show on the Blue Peter website.
• Read also A filming day in the life of Blue Peter
• Blue Peter editor Ewan Vinnicombe wrote Blue Peter Project Petra: Making history
• Read Jon Jacob's post Restored Blue Peter mural to form part of park entrance to Television Centre