Win a Joules picnic basket and a copy of Poppy and Sam's Animal Hide-and-Seek - together worth over £100 *NOW CLOSED*

My grandparents owned a small wood behind their cottage in the midst of the Sussex Weald. I used to love building a fairy village on the side of the tiny stream that ran through it,and imagining that fairies, elves and pixies lived in the wood, I spent many happy summer days there as a child on my own or with friends.
We were lucky enough to live by the sea ( a short drive from my grandparents) and I also loved going night swimming in late summer with my parents, you could see the lights twinkling on the promenade and the pier but be immersed in velvety darkness and have the warm water lapping around you like a velvet throw. Happy times

Making a den with mum's clothes horse and a blanket

We played balls. A game where 2 or more balls (tennis type size) were bounced off the wall and caught with varying difficult moves and skills. I was rubbish but we all stood in lines reciting rhymes as we belted these balls round our backs, under a leg or overhead and off the wall. Maybe it was a Scottish thing in the 70’s.

My favourite activity as a child was playing Hop Scotch with my friends.

My dad built me a Wendy house in the garden with a little door and a single window. It became my haven from being the oldest and a girl who had to share a bedroom with 2 younger annoying brothers in our flat. I spent hours in my very own space and practiced my recorder without getting on my parents nerves I suspect. When I wasn’t there I would be at the playground next door which had a climbing frame in the shape of half an orange with a big hole at the top. For hours it somehow became a spaceship and we were astronauts living and working on there as it flew to different planets. Oh the imagination of children and many happy memories!

In the summer holidays we would take a bottle of water and a box of biscuit wafers and play all day in the fields near our house.

Loved playing Hopscotch in the street.

Me and my brothers made a go-kart with a bit of help from our own Grandma...it was amazing, we had a fantastic hill on our Farm, and we would pull it up the hill with a rope, which would kill our hands, and then zooming down, but one time going so fast we almost ended up in the stream! It always seems sunny when I look back.
I can happily say my own grandchildren are just as out-doorsy as I was which is lovely.

building dens in the woods!

Water games during the summer. putting the slide in the pool etc :D

My favourite activity was skipping, alone or with friends. Another one was flipping over cigarette packets. We propped one against a wall and threw another packet at it to 'flip' it over, and would scour the streets for discarded ones. Parents would be horrified for their children to do this one now wouldn't they.

building dams and messing about in the local stream, usually returning home with a 'soaker' - wet plimsolls and socks!

Making dens in the field behind our friends' house. My sister and I loved the magic of adventures inaccessible at home.

Being brought up on a farm, having my own little grey tractor and singing at the top of my voice when out in the fields helping dad. Am still tone deaf but I can whistle!!!

Riding my bike. Most days I was out on my bike and I also rode it to school everyday.

Playing cricket and football with my siblings and cousins.

Playing cowboys and Indians with my brother and his friends, capturing the cowboys and tying them to a tree then I would tell them I'd let them escape for a kiss but only the latest one I had a crush on

On a sunny day, my Mum would sit with me out on the patio with a bucket of water & paintbrush & I would happily paint the patio & steps for hours! Going over it again & again as the sun dried the bits I had already painted! I still find it oddly satisfying!!

Playing hopscotch on the pavement.

I loved playing marbles i was the master i used to win all the marbles in the sreet

Making daisy chains, I would sit for hours doing it, I think it taught me dexterity and patience which have been useful all my life as well as the beauty of nature.

I used to spend hours skipping,either on my own or with my friends,loved this activity

Roller skating around the nearby houses

Having a "picnic" in the local swing park which usually consisted of a rather squashed sandwich in a paper bag in my pocket and a small bottle of diluted juice.

I loved to dig for treasure. The fact that I never found anything did not hamper my attempts. I'd have my little spade with me whenever the opportunity to dig came up.