Until very recently, I’d always written astroturf off as something that only belonged on hockey pitches. This despite the fact that in the past 3 or 4 houses we’ve lived in, our garden lawns have always caused an issue. For instance, in our last house we decided to get rid of the scraggy lawn (about…
Family Camping for beginners – Huttopia Campsites, put to the test
If you’re anything like me, the thought of going to a campsite which is part of a group may fill you with apprehension. Whilst not strictly a “holiday camp”, the idea of these cut-and-paste campsites brings to mind cramped pitches, over-zealous staff and enforced fun – Butlins but with less comfortable beds, basically. Whilst our…
Fatherhood: How to thank your child’s teacher
Now that we’re safely into the summer holiday season, it feels like a good time to discuss teachers. Or more specifically, saying thank you to the saintly folk who teach our little monsters. With the end of term just a week or two past, how did you thank the teacher who has spent the past…
Family Camping for beginners – What are your essentials?
In the process of researching for this latest series of posts, I’ve been reaching out to other camping bloggers to get hints and tips from them. One of the most helpful has been Naomi from the TentSniffer blog – go check her out if you haven’t already. Naomi writes a lot about camping in general,…
Family Camping for beginners – Food, glorious food
When it comes to families, one of the biggest appeals of a camping holiday is that you can still do a lot of your own cooking. Sure, you might want to treat yourself to the odd meal out. You might even choose a camping site that has food outlets onsite. But chances are, if you’re…
Family Camping for beginners – Camping with Babies & Toddlers
When I first started posting about camping here on the blog, a couple of friends commented to me that they’d love to try camping – but couldn’t because of their small children. An opinion I was familiar with, as I’d once thought the same thing. We took our boys camping for the first time when…
Family Camping for beginners – Camping Tech & Gadgets
Whether you’re a first-time camper or a seasoned regular, there certain things that can make your camping life a lot better. A good coolbox for instance and a decent rug are two I always recommend. But camping gadgets can be a contentious subject – particularly amongst people who think that outdoor living should be technology-free….
Family Camping for beginners – Preparation
Having written recently about the idea of focusing this blog on a few more niche topics, I’ve decided to begin what will hopefully be a regular series of posts about camping – or more specifically, camping with your family. It’s something we do quite a bit, and a topic on which I’ve got a lot…
Time for a change… but a change to what?
If you’ve been reading this blog for a while now, congratulations on sticking it out, despite my rather sporadic posting schedule. According to my blog stats, there are about 5 of you, but let’s gloss over that – let’s just say I appreciate you all. But if you HAVE been reading for a while, you’ll…
The 3 lessons all parents should learn from the ‘Momo’ challenge
Unless you’ve been extremely lucky over the past month, you will no doubt be very familiar with the ‘Momo challenge’ by now. Or at least you’ll be familiar with the many different rumours and stories about it, which peaked around 2 weeks ago and saw parents up and down the land panicking and speculating about…