ENTERTAINING THE CHILDREN

This is mostly about helping your children fall in love with nature, develop self-sufficiency, turn feral, and have fun. (It’s not, as I used to believe, about killing time until we could return to the house.) Attitude is everything.

Simon McGrath’s book Camping with Kids embodies that joyful, can-do spirit. He says: “It looks at simple ways to bring us closer to nature, such as learning tracking skills to understand which creatures are nearby, even if you can’t see or hear them. And there are lots of ideas about how to relearn traditional skills such as den-building, stargazing, ways to use natural materials to create artwork, learning how to navigate, or making your own weather station.”

McGrath has compiled more than 400 delightful pastimes for all ages. He explains how to make tiny shelters with twigs for snails, carve your own tent peg, or tie a bowline knot with spaghetti or liquorice laces before consuming your work. He reveals how to teach your children to build a fire, or create a perfume from petals. One suggestion for the evening is hide-and-seek by torchlight. Children love to feel competent, and adults always wish they’d help more – so teach them how to make the ultimate hot chocolate or perfect bacon sandwich. Scavenger hunts are top of McGrath’s list: ask them to find, say, a nice-looking stone, and a feather.

Robshaw-Bryan adds: “Take a few nature books so that kids can have fun spotting and naming things. If we’re at a coastal campsite, we’ll collect rocks. We have brought acrylic paints, and we’ll do rock painting. The iPhone has various sky-gazing apps – combine that with a telescope – it’s a lovely evening activity.”

Stan Ridgway, of Stackpole Under the Stars, also recommends bringing a local guide book, and a few indoor pastimes such as board games and playing cards for rainy days.

Races like this are great fun for children, but they might also enjoy making snail shelters from twigs

The pod at Stackpole Under the Stars is ideal for those wary of sleeping in a field

Plenty of outdoor activities and games will help your children – and therefore you – enjoy your camping trip