So there we were, trying to decide how we were going to continue working from home whilst the children were on their Easter holidays when, thank goodness, the suggestion of garden camping popped into my inbox. What a brilliant idea, why hadn’t I thought of that?

After a brief celebration on realising we’d reached the 20^th birthday of our beloved little dome tent, in went the mattresses, the cuddly toys, the duvets, blankets and sleeping bags, lanterns, along with a couple of overly excitable children and their reading books. A long night ahead, we thought – after all, who doesn’t love the idea more than the reality when faced with frosty nights and creepy noises in the dark?

I couldn’t have been more wrong – it turns out that after a couple of weeks with nothing more exciting than no longer having to catch the early bus and unlimited access to Minecraft, the very idea of sleeping outdoors is enough to send you straight to sleep. Not half an hour after setting them up with their bedtime reading, I stepped outside to check how things were going to find the lanterns off and complete silence from the tent. The same couldn’t be said for the local wildlife, but luckily the kids were both out cold and so weren’t frantically googling fox calls in the dark in the hope that it’s nothing more sinister…

I don’t think they’ve slept so well in, ooh, a couple of weeks or more – and the discussions about the noises owls make at night would have you thinking we have half the region’s owls in our back garden. So we’ve decided to leave the tent up for a bit.

And you’ll be pleased to hear he earnt his badge.