Did you do this as a kid?

[PreppingPingu]

The posts on homes and BOLs made me drift back to when I was a kid.

How many of us had a "camp in the woods" or a secret den - so secret that half the neighbourhood would use it . I recall as a kid, we had one in the hollowed out part of the hedge in the farmer's field behind our house. In this hollowed out hedge, there was a dip (know as "The Dip" to us lot) which now, looking back was the remains of an old brick clay quarry. We had a bathroom of sorts - which was an extra bit of closed off hedge that made a small room and we took turns to nick loo paper rolls from home - (when I was older I wondered if there were parents sitting round for coffee chatting and wondering where the loo roll went...) See! a Prepper never has enough loo roll even as a kid! We'd find old blankets and bits of wood and make grand plans on our secret hideaway. How would defend it from those other kids? Where should we hide our stuff so no one nicked it? Should we sneak out and camp here one night - not that we ever did. Sound familiar to anyone *grin* It does to me in more ways than one!

I recon that there is a primeval instinct in all of us - that nesting instinct if you will, that drives us and ensure that if and when any of us need to use a BOL, that we shall all be up for the challenge! Yes, yes, this post is a bit tongue in cheek but I did giggle to myself drawing comparisons from childhood fun and games to a more nurtured practical applications of these as an adult.

[unsure]

I for one did some thing along those lines as a kid , not as posh mind . we didn`t have a loo .
we did have our fair share of fights over it with other kids that wanted it as well .

[FEISTY]

The posts on homes and BOLs made me drift back to when I was a kid.

How many of us had a "camp in the woods" or a secret den - so secret that half the neighbourhood would use it . I recall as a kid, we had one in the hollowed out part of the hedge in the farmer's field behind our house. In this hollowed out hedge, there was a dip (know as "The Dip" to us lot) which now, looking back was the remains of an old brick clay quarry. We had a bathroom of sorts - which was an extra bit of closed off hedge that made a small room and we took turns to nick loo paper rolls from home - (when I was older I wondered if there were parents sitting round for coffee chatting and wondering where the loo roll went...) See! a Prepper never has enough loo roll even as a kid! We'd find old blankets and bits of wood and make grand plans on our secret hideaway. How would defend it from those other kids? Where should we hide our stuff so no one nicked it? Should we sneak out and camp here one night - not that we ever did. Sound familiar to anyone *grin* It does to me in more ways than one!

I recon that there is a primeval instinct in all of us - that nesting instinct if you will, that drives us and ensure that if and when any of us need to use a BOL, that we shall all be up for the challenge! Yes, yes, this post is a bit tongue in cheek but I did giggle to myself drawing comparisons from childhood fun and games to a more nurtured practical applications of these as an adult.

My first "boyfriend", age 7, and I used to play in the grounds of a mansion on the outskirts of our village (fairly rural) and we made a den in the middle of an old, hollowed out, rhododendron bush. All fairly innocent, I should add. We would take a blanket and snacks. Fast forward more than four decades and I have discovered on FB that my cute childhood friend got into drugs and is a known hardened criminal. I was an Enid Blyton fan and could never get enough of her Famous Five and Secret Seven books, so secret clubs and hideouts were a large part of my play repertoire. Nothing's changed !

[PreppingPingu]

Arh yes the good ol famous five! Yip - I so wanted to be George - she was a tomboy as I was!

[jansman]

Yep, that was me. We had a shed on an island in the river. We got to it on a raft we built. We used to live there all summer holidays. It was not so much a shed as a brick built 'cottage ' with fire place etc. It is still there. Perhaps a BOL?
Thinking back we were only 12 or so at the time. How many 12 year olds would( be allowed to) or could?

[izzy_mack]

I was a loner as a child, not by choice, we lived in the country with no other kids nearby, my brothers were much older 15 yrs & 9yrs older. I spent my childhood wandering woods and riverbanks, my favourite was a disused lime quarry in a wood which had great wild strawberries at the bottom. My poor mother would have had a fit if she knew were I was half the time. I knew were all the edibles were in season. How many kids can even have a small chance of this sort of life these days? and how many parents would be arrested for neglect if they let them?

[Plymtom]

Enid Blyton eh, part of the problem of the modern era is we held on to the soft and fluffy bits and shielded future generations from the adventure, all sounds familiar though adventures and mischief, I find myself telling the tales of my youth to my kids sometimes and the *&*& I used to get up to, the youngest is 16 this year and he often is shocked, I had an interesting childhood spread between two cities, my family had it's finger in a few pies so to speak, and I got some experience across a spectrum of fields that I now consider myself truly lucky for, the dens, the abandoned railway station and the tunnels, digging in the sand at the local MOD range, camping on the moor in the snow, escaping the bull in the cow field graveyards, conkers, ATC "exercises" I remember as kids we used to ride our bikes in the park and shout abuse at the local pervert, if he was what the rumours said looking back "lucky" we were, times have changed but you're right the instinct to build dens, camp, and probably even hunt for the more rural of us, is in the blood of the young and old alike to the extent that some of us probably see TSHTF as an adventure

[Decaff]

We used to make tents in the garden with blankets over the washing line, always had a camp of some sort and would spend every day of the holidays there with packed lunches.

[Hamradioop]

I was a loner as a child, not by choice, we lived in the country with no other kids nearby, my brothers were much older 15 yrs & 9yrs older. I spent my childhood wandering woods and riverbanks, my favourite was a disused lime quarry in a wood which had great wild strawberries at the bottom. My poor mother would have had a fit if she knew were I was half the time. I knew were all the edibles were in season. How many kids can even have a small chance of this sort of life these days? and how many parents would be arrested for neglect if they let them?

You have nicked my childhood I spent hours at a chalk pit hunting for fossils and walking plowed fields to find what the plough turned up. I even had an old wicker basket with my finds in. when I was older used to help with collecting the hay and straw bales. Yes I grew up on a Farm with the Famous Five for company.

[grenfell]

Yes I too did the den bit. Close to where I live we had an area known as "the wreck" (or should that be " rec" ? Don't know as it was never written down ) , quite a large area mostly owned at the time by the coal board. It was a maze of slag heaps , overgrowth , disused railway lines , a few buildings and streams feeding a reservoir , all in all a great place for kids. We used to play over there probably all our teenage years. Of course the council eventually spoiled it , sorry they said it was improved, with landscaping . All proper paths , green not grey mounds and laid out playing fields.