Great Garden Moments

I love being outdoors, be it walks in the woodlands of afternoons in the garden the outdoors makes me smile. I have such fond memories of the fun we had in garden at our old house, it was rare you found us indoors, we were lucky enough to be surrounded by open spaces woodlands at the end of our garden that we cut into to make hidey holes and magical gardens with rope swings and secret dens.

My other half is the creative type, his imagination and flare for fun is as big as the childrens, and becoming a Dad gave him extra reasons to live out his adventures, and in doing so he turned the garden into a medieval adventure zone, with mud huts, armour stores even a castle, that he designed and built himself.

The garden gave us endless fun, we rigged up speakers under the castle and brought a medieval music CD which set the scene for mystical adventures every time you stepped into the garden.

Picnics and BBQ' were a must and many times our garden became the retreat that the local children would flock to, but of course a medieval garden isn't complete without a few select props.

The feature I always loved was the stocks, which my other half made himself, they were a great bench but a fun play area for the children  too.

Another favourite was the Colin, the Falcon. He is a garden Decoy, to scare away birds from newly laid seed lawns or fruit trees, but my other half cut away his rock and fixed him to a hand made bird stand.

The children spent hours in the armour shelter or running around in a true medieval world. Their Dad showed them how to make a shield out of a panel from an old washing machine, and they would often be found sat in the armour shelter with a hammer banging on old blocks of wood completely emerged in their imaginations.

We would do activities outside too, often found with pots of paint and paper, or simply sitting reading books or playing with toys or board games.

The garden really was the hub of our house and the centre of so many of my childrens memories, now however the children are abit older, we have moved house and our current garden is smaller, we still love being outdoors and spend lots of times wandering through the woodlands close by, but the garden is more sophisticated, more of an adult relaxing space, there is no castle, or armour shelters, no swings or climbing frames, now we have a little table and chairs and a BBQ, Colin came with us and sits in the corner over looking the more sophisticated area, the swords and shields also made their way to the new garden, but attach to the fence as a untouched reminder of the past fun.

Now beautiful flowers grow without fear of being trampled by young children, and we sit and enjoy the peace whilst chomping on Burgers from the barbecue, that's the bitter sweet nature of childhood, it doesn't last forever, children grow quickly their fun and games change, now a basket ball hoop entertains them, the patio area is a useful skate park for practising their latest skateboard tricks and the wonder of fairies and playing castles is just a fond memory.

 Now we are making new memories, in a new garden, and although it is different from the past it has potential to be just as amazing. That is why I am entering the Furniture Village Great Garden Moments Competition, which is giving us a chance to win the amazing Cheltenham garden table and chairs set which I think would make a fantastic addition to our garden.