My first family expedition with my children, then aged 6 and 4, was three nights of wild camping on the Isle of Eriskay in the Outer Hebrides. I was amazed how quickly they acclimatised to their new surroundings of beach, sand dunes and rolling machair grassland. Rock pooling, collecting shells, stumbling across a bleached whale bone, making camps in the dunes, otter watching at first light, fly fishing for canny wild brown trout, searching the skies for the lazy drift of a golden eagle. When it rained, they put on coats or dived into the tent for a game of cards. We were hooked.

Since that first experience we have camped all over Britain (and abroad) at least twice a year for the past 10 years. Sometimes in serviced campsites (New Forest, Dorset, Devon, Cornwall, Pembrokeshire), mostly wild (Western Isles), sometimes for a weekend and often for a week (never longer!). We have slept in the open air, under canvas, in yurts, in campervans, by rivers, in meadows, on mountains, in sand dunes, in woodlands and even in someone’s front garden (unbeknownst to us at the time!). We now tend to measure family time not by birthdays or school terms but by our camping memories. The year I couldn’t find reverse gear in the VW Campervan as we inched closer and closer to the cliff edge overlooking Durdle Door; the June it rained and rained in Pembrokeshire and we taught our children to play Racing Demon and Hearts; the August we climbed to the top of the Sgurr of Eigg; the time we caught and ate three large pike; the holiday we learnt to surf…

You don’t have to be Bear Grylls or Ray Mears to camp in Britain – and you don’t have to be scared of the weather. Sure, it might rain and the wind might get a little frisky but it won’t last for ever! Just ensure that you are well prepared and have suitable equipment. A flimsy flowery tent from a fashion outlet isn’t going to serve you well on Bodmin Moor or the Isle of Barra. Go prepared for all seasons (this is Britain, after all) and you cannot go wrong. Pack light and keep to the essentials. Your camping holiday should start the moment you set off and there is something very exciting about not knowing exactly where you might end up each evening. The delight of camping with children is that they are up for anything. They have no expectations and, from my experience, a fabulous sense of fun and adventure. Camping has given us these incredible memories and has given our two children – and us – a sense of adventure, respect and love for the natural world. And yes – we will be camping again this year, come rain or shine. The children, now aged 15 and 13, demand it…and you know what teenagers are like! Any regrets? Yes, that I never learnt to play the guitar for those campfire moments.