My kids have always been fairly outdoorsy. It’s not always as easy in the Winter, but with a dog to walk we do try to get out and about. The 9 year old loves to be out in the garden and is quite happy to entertain himself but the 11 year old is rocketing towards high school and slowly spending more time inside with her friends.

With The Husband and I working from home it sounds like it goes without saying that we should spend more time together, as a family, however because we work from home I think it’s harder to schedule that time and make it quality time.

We love camping, we’ve camped at least once a year since the children were babies …  in all weathers and still gone back for more. I have a particularly fond memory of taking down our tent in sideways rain *cough*. I love the feeling of being a little cut off, with limited wifi and the freedom the children can have on a campsite.

This Summer we’ve agreed to head out to … our own back garden for the Big Little Tent Festival. The Big Little Tent Festival is an event taking place on  bank holiday Sunday (30^th August) encouraging families to enjoy the great outdoor by camping in their gardens across the UK.  We’re going to crank up the chimnea, roast marshmallows, play games, have a BBQ and sleep under canvas. We have our festival pack which includes snazzy bunting and festival wristbands and we’re going to leave all of our electronic devices indoors and spend some quality time together before the crazy new school year starts.

Whether The Husband and I can put  the tent up without argument remains to be seen.  He favours pyschic powers when explaining the steps of putting up a tent which should be interesting.

Fellow bloggers Sticky Fingers and OneDad3Girls will be joining us (in their own tents, in their own gardens) along with lots of other families across the UK and it should be a LOT of fun!

You can also sign up to the festival experience at www.caravanclub.co.uk/BLTF and register for a free Festival Pack that includes wristbands, bunting and activity packs, and enter a prize draw to win a European family camping holiday with The Caravan Club.  Recipes and music festival playlists are also available to download on the website.  The toasting of marshmallows and reading of stories around the campfire remains entirely optional.

The inaugural Big Little Tent Festival takes place over the August Bank Holiday weekend, on the night of the 30^thAugust, and aims to bring families together by encouraging them to have a festival in their own gardens; camp out together, become Woodland Trust Nature Detectives, cook together over a campfire (or barbecue) and spend time enjoying each other’s company.  Away from the modern day distractions of tablets, televisions and video games, but with the conveniences of home all close at hand.

You can follow the fun on Facebook Big Little Tent Festival, Twitter @BigLittleTent and Instagram @BigLittleTentFestival, and join in the festival feeling with the #BigLittleTentFest15 hashtag.