Posted by MarkD on September 19, 2017 at 07:08:16 user MarkD.
I'm now about to hit 40, and have very small children. My interests are largely outdoors – camping, foraging, cooking, shooting, fishing, sailing (plus rugby and cricket!). I was chatting to my younger brother earlier this year about why we turned out the way we did, and got onto the subject of AR's books. It really hit me then that the AR books I'd loved as a child had had a very profound effect on my life. I'd been trying to emulate much of what I'd read about, not just for myself but as a preparation to creating the same experience for my own future children, because it seemed like the "right" thing to do.
Now that my eldest is three it suddenly occurred to me that whatever I was subconsciously preparing for has arrived, and I now just need to make it happen for them! I've re-read the 12 and found the old magic still there, and now I'm about to buy a small boat, and try to persuade my dad to trade down his own largely unused modern yacht for something smaller and hopefully more traditional.
We've joined TARS and are now planning our first recce up to the Lakes to see what can be achieved. My wife is Norwegian and grew up camping and holidaying in basic family log cabins on a private island and in the mountains, and the usual arguments on family sailing holidays. She thinks that we're better off hiring waterside summer cabins complete with boats in Sweden or just wild camping in Norway (and is dead set on just hiring boats in the UK instead of owning).
Has anyone tried this journey with kids in the UK? Any advice on what worked for you, or tips of things to do while the kids are still very small? I appreciate it's a broad topic, but it's a wonderful journey and I can't wait to take my kids on it...and then grit my teeth, cross my fingers and turn my back and let them go and do it on their own…!