Like an excited child I counted down the days until the 28th of July for the National Garden SleepOut, supporting charities and encouraging more children outdoors. After several practise runs of popping the tent up and playing camping in our living room with the children, we were confident we could handle everything the great outdoors threw at us – except the weather had different ideas.

The 28th arrived with the sunshine beating down gloriously on our garden. My boys and I were eager to get set up for sleeping out so we brought the tent outside and, being the considerate person that I am, I left my hubby and kids to find a flat bit of grass to put it up while I wandered around taking pictures. 20 minutes later the tent was up at the very bottom of our garden so it was just a case of counting down the hours until we could actually sleep out.

The sun went down and we were keen to sleep in our garden. Having everything sorted, we were all set to go… Until the rain started and the wind picked up. My husband decided that it was perhaps a little too windy for sleeping outside and brought everything back indoors, much to my boys’ and my own disappointment. But, to be honest, I don’t think my boys would’ve settled with the tent flapping about and the rain hammering down; it was all a little too wild for them to have any chance of sleep.

Ever the optimist though, I’m going to watch the weather like a hawk and have our ‘belated SleepOut’ as soon as the chance arrives. I hope you all had better success than us and I look forward to reading your stories!

Take care,
Nicole