Best summer reads - win £400 of brilliant books

My favourite summer was the first time I took my sons abroad when they were 8 & 6, it was lovely - sunny days every day and they snorkeled in the Mediterranean for the first time.

When the children were small and we could enjoy a picnic and games in the park, then come home to snuggle up for a story before bed

Best summers are always with the people you want to be with the most - since my husband's death I look back at holidays we had - grand and not so grand but just spending time together in beautiful places which build up a store of memories to last as long as I have a memory! Walking in Glen Coe, the street market in Luxor, the Heights of Abraham with the grandchildren and the hilltop villages in Umbria - so happy!

Camping in South West France with two small children for several years running in the late 1980s. The children often insisted on wearing matching clothes so we have many photographs of an excited brother and sister sitting in their cat seats waiting for the ferry from Portsmouth. Happy times!

In 1962, when I was ten years old, my lovely aunt shipped my cousins outgrown bicycle down from Cumbria to Somerset, for me. I'd never had a bicycle before - or even learned to ride, but I'd watched other children enviously as they cycled up and down the country lane where I lived with my parents.

Suddenly, I had a bicycle - it was rose pink and by no means new, but I loved it with a passion. I learned to ride it with my father hanging onto the back of the saddle as I wobbled up and down outside our cottage, till finally I could ride it without help! I was ecstatic! I was allowed to cycle from our cottage into the nearby village, calling in on various friends en route...and we would go off for the day, with our lunch and a drink in our saddlebags, exploring rhynes and fields and hidden places...building dens and rafts from tin cans and bits of wood which we found along the way...no thought of all the horrors one hears of today - no mobile phones, just each other to rely on should anything go wrong. Nothing serious ever did and I recall that summer so well - the warm sunshine, me, my friends Louise and Grace on our bikes, transistor radios hanging off the handlebars, singing along to whatever was on at the time. It was so innocent and so simple but the memory of it has endured for 55 years and I still smile when I close my eyes and see my young self, tearing along on my beloved bicycle with not a care in the world. Such a happy time,

I love to spend time with my grandsons. The year before we went together for holiday...first time together to the South of France. That was the best holiday I had and treasure. It was a nite of a shaky start but ends beautifully. Enjoyed tremendously. X

My First summer holiday was my best as it was my first holiday memory, I remember going on the ferry from Anglesey to Isle of Man, visiting the wonderful fairy grotto, I would have been about six and it was such a magic moment

Best summer is any summer when the sun is shining, I'm by the sea and have a good book to read.

Post O level blues. I loved reading as a young child but the trials of studying English Literature had dampened my enthusiasm. Dickens was hard work and gloomy. Julius Ceaser, one of Shakespeare's dullest. I don't remember the rest but we didn't get to read To kill a Mockingbird like some other classes.

My parents took us to the Isle of Mull where we stayed in an isolated cottage. No TV, only the family for company. There was a shelf of books but nothing very tempting. I picked up an Alistair Maclean and gave it a try. I was instantly hooked and worked my way through an entire shelf within the week. My joy in reading was revived. I actually did quite well in the O level and went on to to A level English Lit. I even got to like Dickens and reassessed Julius Ceaser. Thank you Alisair Maclean!

The summer my son was born. I've never felt so many different emotions in such a short space of time - fear, happiness, excitement ... ! I don't think any summer will ever top the year I became a 'mum'.

Summer of 1969. Newly married in the Middle East. Deliriously happy. Just pregnant with first child, watching man walking in the moon which I found quite boring as couldn't understand the language.

The summer of '68 - I was living in France about 12 miles from Paris. I was 17 and it was such a joy to be living away from my parents. I felt free at last and enjoyed immersing myself in French life which included the men. Best 18 months of my life.

Last summer was very special. Along with my daughter, son, his partner and all four grandchildren we spent two weeks in the Cairngorms, in two adjoining cottages. It was the first time we had all holidayed together and it was simply the best. The weather was brilliant, sunny and warm with light breezes that kept the odd midge at bay. (It was Scotland after all, but the midge season had only just begun!) The children, who ranged in age from 4 to 8, were on the go from morning to night: making dens, exploring in the woods, making dams in the nearby stream, collecting and painting unusual stones, climbing hills, with all of us involved. The setting was idyllic. 6 cottages grouped around a small lochan, complete with ducks and adorable ducklings, scrambling over one another to be first in line for food. Deer came down to the water’s edge to drink. To top it all, there was no wi-fi reception. Bliss!! We’ve booked again for this year

The summer of 1961, when, as a young teenager I was allowed to fly alone to Belfast to stay with a friend who had moved there with her family a few weeks before. It was so exciting meeting up again and I can still remember the huge (well it seemed so at the time) weeping willow in the garden where she and I used to hide from her little sisters. Her family took us on lots of outings. It just remains in my mind as one great big summer adventure.

The summer of 1976. I had just left school, college was 8 weeks away and the sun shone and shone. Bliss!

Hard to choose- so many summers. So perhaps just a brilliant moment from an otherwise hard working summer. Working as a chambermaid in the summer hols before college. It was hard work. These were the days before en-suite bathrooms, when most rooms had a chamber pot under the bed. Some people even used them! And the chamber maid had to empty them. But we had an evening off and all us student chamber maids went to see Mary Poppins. We walked back over the bridge in Scarborough singing "Chim, chiminey". The stars were shining and the lights glistened below us. A fairy tale, magical moment in the world between child and adult life.

Summer 15 going to Wales with son daughter and their families after a rough 18months it was just so good to spend quality time with them all .

August 2015 has to be one of the highlights - my youngest daughter got married ..... it wasn't just the wedding that was the highlight but that my 2 children who live abroad came and brought their 6 children with them, so I had my 7 grandchildren in one place at the same time - something that hasn't happened before!! It was wonderful! Since then I have another 3 grandchildren but cannot imagine we will have another photo opportunity with the 10 of them in one country again for a very long time.

Best summer ever, was last year, (2016) first year of retirement and played golf with my new girlie friends

Last year holidaying in Llandudno with my husband and son, we stayed in a lovely cottage with a garden and the weather was glorious.

Best summer was in the USA - Philadelphia, San Francisco, Portland. Sunny and warm everywhere we went, lots of craft beer tasting, street food, bike rides, friendly people!

My best summer happened when I was 17 years old. I'd just finished my highers ( Scottish equivalent of A levels) and was free of studying for six weeks. The sun shone, the music was amazing, the world seemed full of possibilities, I had a summer job and money to spend. Happy days with friends, music and fun

My summer - a little bit different. My husband and I are housesitting in deepest Surrey whilst our son and his wife are away.We are responsible for one dog, two cats, four ferrets,five hens and forty sheep so never a dull moment!

1970, young free and innocent my best friend Linda and I thought we were. Having just left school we felt so trendy.We hitched a lift to the lake district and had a fantastic week camping. Returning home the summer continued with days in the park, rowing on the river and generally hanging out with friends.What love sick teenagers we were, our favourite records we played endlessly were Tears of a Crown, Third finger left hand, (Cant remember the full title).

We married in Spring but as we were both working, we didn't have time to decorate and paint our new home.

The weather forecast had been predicting stormy showers and gales for our Summer holidays, and instead of spending money on going away, we decided to buy paint and wallpaper.

We spent most of the summer painting walls and experimenting with colour, and choosing wallpaper for 'statement' walls.

We have since decorated quite a few times, but never had as much fun as we did that summer.