Dens

Over the last 50 years, statistics suggest that, whilst in 1970 one in two children played outside with friends finding things to do, today only one in ten children in this country plays outside. Not only that but games played indoors have equally been abandoned in favour of a dramatic increase in screen time – an occupation that is wholly sedentary.

Some of my fondest childhood memories involve my sisters and me climbing trees and building dens and forts, sometimes in places that were deeply inconvenient for various adults, but which were nevertheless encouraged. We drew secret maps to follow across sheep fields, complete with decoy routes in the firm belief that our parents couldn't possibly find our secret dens until of course we wanted to show them our marvellous constructions at the end of a summer holiday.

At one point I remember climbing some hay bales and then jumping down onto the hay beneath which did get us into trouble. The farmer caught us and called our parents who apologised profusely to him, and we were all ticked off. These days such activities would also undoubtedly be deemed unsafe.

Luckily the forts and dens were less controversial and made the most of fallen tree trunks across ditches to create secret homes. Sticks and branches covered over by leaves made a roof that was entirely hidden. They were never particularly weatherproof despite our cross lined twigs and, access was sometimes a little tricky, but that never mattered and we could have picnics hiding out in them or midnight feasts at teatime.

I am not really sure why we all love hollows and huts. Why there is an appeal to finding corners in woods no one knows about, or ancient tree stumps with hidden entrances to secret worlds. Maybe there is a cave or an old walled garden … these are just all wonderful secret places to explore.

Given my youthful exploits, it was a lovely surprise to find that the first film which Geordie and his father welcomed to Highclere in 1993 was “The Secret Garden”, a book which I had grown up with and adored. Coincidentally , Maggie Smith was part of that cast as well. It is a story about the wonder of gardens hidden by time and how healing they can be. The wildness of the garden became a playground for the children whose story the book follows. We have a Secret Garden here at Highclere, although it is (sadly) clearly sign posted, and it is one of the prettiest parts of the gardens.

This coming weekend is our literary festival which includes a garden trail for children inspired by the world of imagination found in the books in Highclere’s Library. We begin by stepping through a wardrobe. In fact, I once did step through what I thought was a wardrobe here at Highclere and found a hidden set of stairs rather than another world, but it was so intriguing even at my ancient age.

If you have read the Hobbit then you will find the Back Door or the Side-door, which as you would expect is perfectly round, just like a ship’s porthole. Hopefully it leads to the home of Bilbo and Frodo Baggins, a hobbit-hole. Other imaginary worlds also include a profusion of imagined doorways from Peter Rabbit to Winnie the Pooh in his Hundred acre wood.

It is all about time out away from screens and a way of bringing an amusing weekend to life. There is an underlying thought that fresh air is so important to our health and wellbeing. I was lucky enough to play sport most days and loved it so Geordie and I once helped the National Playing Fields Association, a charity dedicated to encouraging children to go outside during the school day and thus the importance of green space.

In addition, every day en route home from school, I and my sisters would go for a walk (often reluctantly in true teenage fashion) around a London park. Our mother thought exercise and looking around at the trees and flowers would destress us and that a little more exercise would help us sleep better.

Playing outside, whether in a formal game or just as unstructured time out means you have to work together to share and to communicate, to be creative and curious.

I think this diminishing childhood contact with nature is rather sad so this weekend we are doing a little bit to try to translate a few inspirational moments from screen and books into something enjoyable outside.