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First published by HarperCollinsPublishers 2018
FIRST EDITION
© Alex Gregory 2018
Illustrations © Alex Gregory, unless otherwise stated
Cover design by Sim Greenaway © HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd 2018
Cover illustration © Eiko Ojala 2018
A catalogue record of this book is available from the British Library
Alex Gregory asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work
While every effort has been made to trace the owners of copyright material reproduced herein and secure permissions, the publishers would like to apologise for any omissions and will be pleased to incorporate missing acknowledgements in any future edition of this book. All efforts have been made to ensure the accuracy of the information contained in this book as of the date of publication. These activities should be approached with caution and children should always be supervised by a responsible adult. If you follow any of the activities in this book you do so at your own risk, and the publisher and the author disclaim all responsibility for any harm that occurs as a result of undertaking the activities suggested in this book.
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Source ISBN: 9780008283704
Ebook Edition © May 2018 ISBN: 9780008283711
Version: 2018-04-27
To my parents and grandparents, who showed me the value of being outdoors.
For my children, Jasper, Daisy and Jesse. Here’s to making many more happy memories together under the big blue sky.
In descriptions of the activities in this book I’ve generally assumed that you have one child of a particular age. You might, of course, have a number of children of a varying range of ages. Each activity can easily be tailored to fit the needs of multiple children of any age.
Best in dry conditions
Can be done in bad weather
Best during the day
Can be done at night
Simple, no preparation needed
For the more adventurous
Can be done in the garden/close to home
Involves wildlife
Gadgets required
Involves water
‘You can’t keep a toad under your bed, it wouldn’t be happy! Toads like living in the garden!’
A toad, by Jasper.
These could so easily have been my mum’s words echoing around our house as a seven-year-old me tried to smuggle a creature into my room. But in reality this was a snatch of conversation I heard in the upstairs of our home as my partner Emily tried to persuade our son Jasper to put the toad he’d brought into his bedroom, back outside into the front garden. Frogs and toads seem to be plentiful in the small garden of our rented cottage, and they’ve provided us with some exciting evening adventures. A few years ago, in our last house, it was hedgehogs – and before that, well, there’s always something to do outdoors …
There are five of us in the house – two adults and three children – but a whole host of other creatures seem to have joined our menagerie along the way. Emily is the one who keeps us all going. She feeds us all, looks after us and stops our lives from grinding to a screeching halt.
We first met at university many years ago. As I was going into our housing block from early rowing-training sessions on the river, she’d be returning home from a night out with friends, living a far more typical university lifestyle than me. We’d stop and chat, and soon discovered that we got on very well. We enjoyed each other’s company, and I found I wanted to spend more time with her than in a boat on the river. That was something new … and something that I couldn’t ignore. We happily started to spend the rare free time we had together getting to know each other, understanding each other, and sharing dreams and future aspirations. Emily was incredibly patient. I was pursuing a seemingly impossible dream, meaning my free time was limited to almost nothing. This meant that very quickly in our relationship we recognised the value of quality time. My days were spent out on rivers, lakes or in the gym, essentially working a full-time job while at university. I didn’t drink, I didn’t socialise that much, I made as many lectures as I possibly could, but my life was focused on one specific thing: the Olympics.