Sleeping in the garden

Slept indoors last night but woke at 3am to torrential rain! In a tent, yes, but under the stars, no!!

I lived in Ealing on Lothair Rd many years ago. I would feel very safe sleeping in my own back garden. (I still visit frequently - it's such a wonderful area!)

Yes... a lovely idea if you are safe and do not leave the house unlocked. What fun. We used to do that as children and dad even rigged up a tv in the tent. We washed in a bowl and mum brought our breakfast out on a tray. Gosh! That brought back memories of playing rounders and sleeping outside for weeks during the hols. Food tasted so much better too.
Enjoy...

Struggling to find the issue on this one???
Your granddaughter would love it. It would be a (very tiny) adventure.
If anything goes wrong - i.e. you see a fly or the leaves rustle too loudly or you can't get a signal on your phone - you could send a pigeon or smile signals for help and someone, somewhere, somehow would probably come guide you back to the house.
Go on, be a devil, risk it...

My DD and GCx2 love sleeping in their tent in our large garden, they lay outside star gazing and chatting until they are ready to sleep.. We are not overlooked at all and they can't be seen from the road. Downstairs toilet is just inside the back door so DD has the keys with her. Anyway being boys aged 7 and 10 there are buckets behind the shed if they don't want to wake mummy.
Not sure what is meant buy safety concerns. As phoenix says easy to make a dash indoors.

Not sure you’ll see the stars in Ealing if you have lots of street lights - but why not do it anyway.
Would definitely consider an insecticide though... especially after all this rain.

Just smiling at memories of my children doing this. We always left the back door open for either toilet or chickening out. If it was requested now by GC I would have to do it with them. Wondering if I was a terribly irresponsible Mother!!

Yes! Great idea.
We have a fun rocket tent that fits over the trampoline. DS hasn’t actually slept outside all night yet but then it’s much cooler here at the moment. 16 degrees average daytime temperature this week.

Go for it! When good weather and we have our grandson over he thinks great fun for us all to have the tent up and sleep in it.

in a tent? or under the stars?

I would possibly do so if I had a tent but not otherwise. We had rain, thunder and lightning last night so it would have been horrible. I am a midge magnet and would probably be covered in bites so this is very off-putting too.

It sounds fun but do you have foxes in your area. We do and not sure I'd feel safe knowing a fox might come a calling.

My daughter regularly slept in a little tent, by herself, in the garden from the age of 8 onwards. The first time she did it I was convinced she would decide to come inside the house once it got dark but she never did, even when it rained.

A few years ago when we were having really hot weather, pretty much like now our bedroom was dreadfully uncomfortable and I couldn’t sleep. We’d got a hammock set up in the garden so in the middle of the night I decided to go outside and sleep on that. I’d got a very flimsy nightdress on and the hammock was right in the middle of the lawn but I knew I wouldn’t be seen as it was pitch black. Unfortunately, I hadn’t taken in to account next door’s security lights! So there was I in the middle of the night in my tiny nightie lit up for the whole street to see - classy!

When living abroad in a very hot country, my husband, young son and myself slept outside on our terrace in an enclosed garden. All was good until the people upstairs watered the plants on their balcony in the early morning, and we got soaked!!

"all this rain" ??

It rained in Kent Friday night, I can't remember the last time before that.

Salt around the recliner should keep the slugs at bay. I remember a camping holiday in Ireland when the slugs snuggled up under the groundsheet so that the it was my shape when we packed up.

I would but flaming baby foxes would probably get in with us. They are just far too tame this year.

I would do it especially with the grandchildren. I used to camp for three weeks every year from the age of 15 to 50.

We always camped out, often in the back garden. I did it later on with my dd when she was a teenager and we had great fun. Give it a go, there’s always security in the thought that the loo (& your bed) is close by if you change your mind in the night.

I did it many nights when I was about 12 I think. Looking back I can hardly believe it. I slept on the lawn with no tent by myself. Our house had no garden gate and the road ran next to the garden where I slept. I loved looking at the stars and the moon and a very large tree.

I would never let my children do it.

Thanks for all the input some lovely memories made. I’m still waiting to hear if GD is joining me ?. I think maybe not as her brother who she hasn’t seen in a while turned up unexpectedly yesterday so she may want to stay home but I’ll give it a go anyway. ????

We have a park, golf course, airfield and a farm at the back of the house so a few stars are visible believe or not I am still in London. ?

Slug ???

My dog would go daft at the hedgehogs.

From experience of West Ealing, there could be foxes, squirrels,mosquitoes and any number of bugs. I would be covered in bites of some sort
So not for me.

Always my younger daughter's choice of what to do on her birthday. Live adventurously; all the people I've known at the end of their lives have only regretted missed opportunities, never the ones they seized. It will make wonderful memories and maybe encourage her to go camping herself when she is a little older; too many city children / adults are terrified of anything that isn't wrapped in plastic with a supermarket label on... sleeping under the stars might just open her eyes to what the world can actually offer. I hope it's dry, if it isn't you abandon the garden and try again another night. Take some nice munchables out with you to make it even more fun. Do go for it!