when i was a child many moons ago.

[naturelover]

hi i remember when i was a child, mum dad my sister and i would get up early in the morning, pack a lunch for a picnic, and walk for miles at this time of year looking for elderberrys,sloes and blackberrys,dad would make wine from the elderberrys and sloes mum would make bramble jelly and jam from the blackberrys,i loved my summer holidays because we were always going somewhere,never had a car or much money but my sister and i were never fed up with our walks,and it was always hot thats why dad took his holidays last week in august first week in september,we always had a dog right through my chidhood they enjoyed it too,this is where i began to love the wild i would be quite happy living in the wild if it wasnt wet and cold,i even try to bring the outside in,my consevatory is full of plants six footers some of them i will never change now been like this 61 years.I just wish it was like that now, looking out of my conservatory window this morning you would think it was october or november instead of august its such a shame still i have good memeries.

[Ollie]

Nice reading naturelover.

Some of my childhood memories are of going for nature walks with the school. How excited we used to be when our teacher said it's a lovely afternoon so we will go for a nature walk instead of sitting indoors. I might add this was a very small village school with around fifteen pupils at most so we all used to go. We used to take pencils and paper and make notes of all the different creatures we saw.

I can also remember going for picnics with my parents and brother and sisters, taking the billy cans to fill with the brambles we would pick along the way. It always seemed to be warm in those summer days and we never seemed to need a coat on. Oh happy days.

Roger

[Paul mabbott]

Originally Posted by naturelover

hi i remember when i was a child, mum dad my sister and i would get up early in the morning, pack a lunch for a picnic, and walk for miles at this time of year looking for elderberrys,sloes and blackberrys,dad would make wine from the elderberrys and sloes mum would make bramble jelly and jam from the blackberrys,i loved my summer holidays because we were always going somewhere,never had a car ........... been like this 61 years.I just wish it was like that now, looking out of my conservatory window this morning you would think it was october or november instead of august its such a shame still i have good memeries.

Weird isn't it - I've been up near the coast where you would expect at least a few bathers but just red flags for swimmers and I wish I could have worn gloves and balaklava!

Going back to days of yore - yes, I remember going out en masse collecting the fruit of the hedgerow. Two big problems now is that many hedges are close to roads and thus heavily polluted and that most fields are closed. When you and I were young you could walk in any field unless there was a bull - now, you're likely to be shot at unless you're on a public footpath - and that won't always save you ...

Actually, today was quite warm, if windy so didn't seem too bad

[Jay77]

Originally Posted by Ollie

Nice reading naturelover.

Some of my childhood memories are of going for nature walks with the school. How excited we used to be when our teacher said it's a lovely afternoon so we will go for a nature walk instead of sitting indoors. I might add this was a very small village school with around fifteen pupils at most so we all used to go. We used to take pencils and paper and make notes of all the different creatures we saw.

I can also remember going for picnics with my parents and brother and sisters, taking the billy cans to fill with the brambles we would pick along the way. It always seemed to be warm in those summer days and we never seemed to need a coat on. Oh happy days.

Roger

Lucky you! I also went to a small village school and BECAUSE we were mostly country children we never used to go on nature walks.

[colincurry]

I don't remember going on nature walks as such but we were always out in the open air - even in the winter. We lived on the edge of what was then a country town and after walking about a mile, could be in the country. Breaking up for the 7 week summer holidays was marvellous - the holiday seemed to be without end. We used mainly to go to a very large wood that had steep valleys, streams and a deep pit. These provided different environments for different activities. We would climb in and out of the pit, play different games such as cowboys and indians, Robin Hood, the three musketeers, tag games, tracking, damming the stream and panning for gold, and building camps. We used to make swords, Little John staffs, bows and arrows and catapults - no one ever got hurt. In the autumn, local small holders used to take their piglets into the wood to eat the acorns. They were great for rounding up by cowboys. Another play area was the very deep clay pit dug out by the local brick works. This was full of deep clinging yellow mud and my mother was never pleased if I came home muddy as was invariably the case - no washing machines in those days.

We used to pick all the seasonal fruits but for eating on the spot. I can't remember being specifically interested in nature as such, but was always aware of the keen sense of enjoyment engered by my surroundings. I do remember sitting in a tree exchanging cuckoo sounds with a nearby cuckoo - it is interesting to note that I only saw my first cuckoo two years ago!

At the end of the summer, we used to go hop picking, travelling intially by lorry and later by coach to a local farm. I really loved this with the cold September mornings, mist and the sun breaking through. I had to work in the mornings but usually managed to escape in the afternoon. We used to take ferrets to hunt Rabbits. At one time, we acquired some sulphur used to help dry the hops to try to smoke out some Rabbits from a large bury under a huge beech tree. The first year we went, there were still horses on the farm. I can remember going into the milking shed and having a fight with the cowman's son squirting milk at each other from a cow's udder.

I shall stop now as I shall soon be crying. Seriously, I would not wish to change this aspect of my childhood - others maybe.

Colin

[epops]

I used to spend all my six weeks summer hols down on a mates dads farm we used to take a fishing rod etc tent and just stay camped down by a small river but we did used to cheat a bit cause we just used to go back to his house at tea time for food i did go back to the place a while back and it was'nt as i remembered it the river is almost dried up the farm is all but defunct and in my mates old back garden someone has built a house.similary the winters were spent with ferrets and agun and dog not now though youd probley get arested or mobbed by antifield sport protesters ah well thats progress or is it?

[ziggybigwig]

Oh it is lovely to hear other peoples happy memories.Especially cheering on a drissley grey day in Essex,to remember the good old days!! Actually,we must be really lucky here as only yesterday I took my daughter and the dog to pick sloes down 'the track' which is through some local woods just behind us,onto a track which runs through farmers fields.Admittedly it was blowing a gale,but we all still enjoyed it!! It is a public footpath and further on there are lots of blackberry bushes,which we may try out later on if it ever stops raining! I am 37 and my childhood memories were from the country,and at our school I remember one misty morning we were all taken outside to see the spiders webs on the hedgerow.I thank my teacher for that,as its one of my most vivid childhood memories,the beauty we all saw even at the tender age of 5 or 6,the whole hedge was covered in delicate white webs glittering in the morning sun,then we all went back in to draw them!! I also remember those endless summer holidays,going to play on a rope swing over a local pond,we swung right out over it,it was fantastic,with no adult supervision of course!! I remember sitting on the bales in the farmers fields,with the heady smell of fresh straw under our noses,whiling the hot hours away doing not much,but never ever bored!! Bike rides on country lanes,picking berries along the way.We had such great fun,but my daughter doesnt have any of these experiences,only things we do together,which,although enjoyable can never compare with the freedom we had as kids.

[JennyS]

I remember back in the early 60's my parents rented one of the houseboats on the Poole Harbour side of the Studland peninsula in Dorset......me and my younger sisters out playing in the heather and dunes every night until it got dark. Still remember that amazing feeling of freedom! The first bee orchid I saw was on that holiday, and that passion for wildflowers has kicked back in the last year or so....

And there were these things called 'seasons' in those days too - spring, summer, autumn and winter.....I used to enjoy them!

[naturelover]

Originally Posted by ziggybigwig

Oh it is lovely to hear other peoples happy memories.Especially cheering on a drissley grey day in Essex,to remember the good old days!! Actually,we must be really lucky here as only yesterday I took my daughter and the dog to pick sloes down 'the track' which is through some local woods just behind us,onto a track which runs through farmers fields.Admittedly it was blowing a gale,but we all still enjoyed it!! It is a public footpath and further on there are lots of blackberry bushes,which we may try out later on if it ever stops raining! I am 37 and my childhood memories were from the country,and at our school I remember one misty morning we were all taken outside to see the spiders webs on the hedgerow.I thank my teacher for that,as its one of my most vivid childhood memories,the beauty we all saw even at the tender age of 5 or 6,the whole hedge was covered in delicate white webs glittering in the morning sun,then we all went back in to draw them!! I also remember those endless summer holidays,going to play on a rope swing over a local pond,we swung right out over it,it was fantastic,with no adult supervision of course!! I remember sitting on the bales in the farmers fields,with the heady smell of fresh straw under our noses,whiling the hot hours away doing not much,but never ever bored!! Bike rides on country lanes,picking berries along the way.We had such great fun,but my daughter doesnt have any of these experiences,only things we do together,which,although enjoyable can never compare with the freedom we had as kids.

how right you are its such a shame its all gone,my chidren remember cos i am 61 but your child is young, but you are scared to let her out of your sight for too long with this wicked world as it at the moment,i would be no different if my children were young i would be scared to turn my back.

[Jay77]

I remember -

Winter walks in the snow, coming home down the fields just as the light was failing and our feet were turning to blocks of ice, lovely coal fire when we got in and toast and dripping for tea.

There used to be smallholdings in the village, and every day we would hear the pigs and chickens.

No street lights, so we had really dark skies with loads of stars.

At school, every winter when it snowed the boys would try to build an igloo in the playground and the headmaster would come out and help them with it. I don't think they ever got the roof to stay up though!

Waking up to find ice flowers on the windows.

Our school playground was overlooked by three huge beech trees in the adjoining Abbey grounds, and a favourite playtime game in autumn was seeing how many leaves we could catch as they were blown off.

There were two small breweries about a mile away, and the smell of the hops on brewing days would spread for miles.

Walking and cycling for miles around the country lanes, fishing for tiddlers in the stream, trying to build a raft.

No tinned stuff at the Harvest Festival, only fresh produce or homemade jams.

[ron1863]

Moving from the big city of Glasgow to a country village at the age of 5 opened my eyes to a whole new world, from playing in the woods all day to going for walks up the Campsie Fells, which must have been a joy for my mother as she didn't see my brothers, sisters and me for hours on end. We would set out with a packed lunch at the crack of dawn and return when it was starting to get dark.
During school term we walked to school every day - a mile there and back, changed days as kids are ferried back and forward in cars, mind you that was ove40 years ago.