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Do you remember life before the games console, the DVD, the video, the iPod and the computer?

Didn’t we have fun and wasn’t entertainment cheap, easy and free from bytes, crashes and multiple chargers?

I can remember singing in the car on a journey or playing I Spy. I sing no more and now  my only fun comes looking at personalised number plates and wondering what most of them mean.

Do children of today miss out on simple, cheap fun? Is it time for a bit of nostalgia and take the children back in time? Why not try some old fashioned entertainment one weekend.

Let’s not allow the health and safety police take over our family time together but with a bit of common sense, there are still some old-fashioned games or entertainment that can be played with your family on your caravan park when you take the kids or grandkids to your static caravan.

Some games can played indoors or outdoors like playing cards or Scrabble. Try and make Scrabble fun by rewarding the first person to make a proper word using the letter Z for example and use the opportunity to develop the child’s vocabulary and help with spelling. We find a dictionary or thesaurus is helpful. I never really got the hang of cribbage or chess, but happily played solitaire or draughts.

Reading with children can be fun too. You can share the reading out loud and change the voices to suit the characters. The Gruffalo is still one of my favourites. It could be one of the children’s own books, or even one that their parent used to enjoy; I bet you’ve kept it. My sister still has her collection of Peter Rabbit books that her children are now way beyond reading. My nephews are heavily into The Famous Five books by Enid Blyton, an author from the past who is now fashionable again.

Then there was marbles, my nephews have a huge bag of them but seem to spend time trading them for different colours! We rolled the marbles around the floors and I’m sure that was the basis for me playing pétanque (badly) years later.

Outside games do need some supervision or refereeing. Ball games are good fun for adults and children. Can you get a team together and play rounders? Or what about flying a kite, or teaching the children to play hopscotch. Do you remember Leapfrog? It’s good exercise for them too.

Remember though, there have to be winners and losers; or is that an old-fashioned idea too?

Do check the park’s rules and regulations and don’t let the children play around anybody else’s static caravan, not just to reduce the risk of damage but to maintain the owner’s privacy too.

During last year’s ‘big freeze’, Leisuredays handled more burst pipe and escape of water claims than ever before. No one wants to return to their holiday home to discover substantial damage and the upheaval of getting it sorted, so it’s important that you take steps to reduce the likelihood of this damage happening.

We’ve already seen some heavy snow fall this winter, and with conditions forecast to worsen in the run up to Christmas now is the time to think about protecting your holiday home.

Certain precautions are necessary to prevent burst pipes, boiler damage, water heater damage and escape of water at this time of year.

If you’re not occupying your caravan or lodge during the winter, then you should turn the water off at the mains and ensure all equipment is fully drained down (excluding sealed central heating systems containing antifreeze).

Alternatively, leave your central heating system set at the manufacturer’s recommended temperature to avoid frost damage.

If you haven’t got chance to nip over to your holiday home in the next few weeks, why not try giving your park a call to see if they can do this for you. Many parks offer a professional ‘drain down’ service at a small cost, it’s a convenient service that means you can be sure you’re holiday home has the best possible chance of avoiding water damage in freezing temperatures.

The main thing is to act now to ensure your holiday home is ready for winter and you can enjoy a stress free and happy Christmas!­­­

Also check out our previous advice on preparing your static caravan or holiday lodge for the winter.

We recently handed over a £1000 cheque as part of our sponsorship of the 17 year old athlete, and have pledged to continue our support right up to the 2012 games.

Hannah’s bid for glory is becoming increasingly likely after an intensive winter training program and new coach seem to have paid dividends, with a string of fantastic results already this season including breaking the 100m, 200m, 400m and 800m World Record in her classification this weekend. In fact, she broke three World records which were held by top UK athlete and Olympic Gold medallist Deborah Brennan, who was also racing in the events.

Hannah had this to say about Leisuredays continued support,

“My competition schedule has increased a lot this year in the need to get qualifying times for the 2011 World Championships that will lead to the 2012 games. The money helps me get to and compete in all these vital races and also have the equipment I need to perform to the best of my ability.”

One of our Directors Louise Wilby, visited Hannah at her local training track in Halifax to hand over the £1000 cheque,

“Myself and everyone at Caravan Guard and Leisuredays have been hugely impressed by Hannah’s accomplishments over the last few years – her dedication to the sport is astounding and we’re extremely proud to be able to support her at the beginning of what we hope will be a long and successful sporting career.”

Hannah is a mixed distance athlete and as well as her World Records in shorter distances also won the Virgin Mini London Marathon and recently took silver in the 10k BUPA Great Manchester Run, just behind Paralympic Bronze medallist Shelly Woods.

Our 70 members of staff are kept up to date with Hannah’s progress and racing results with regular emails and photos being sent through by Hannah herself – she says it’s a two way street and that knowing the whole company is behind her is a real confidence booster.

“The Caravan Guard and Leisuredays staff are there to support me every step of the way. They are interested in all my achievements and are there to celebrate them with me. Everyone there is friendly and full of encouragement and so their well wishes and hard work to help me achieve my dream keep me going even through the long hard winter months of training.”

Have you tried herbs and salad crops in baskets or tubs? They are much easier to keep tidy this way, you have the pleasure of eating what you’ve grown and if you sow seeds regularly you can be eating your home grown crops all season long.

You can grow several varieties of herbs in a strawberry planter. Mint is best planted in a tub on its own as it has a nasty habit of rampant growth. Rosemary is a fairly hardy perennial shrub. Most plants are ideal in multi-purpose compost but thyme prefers well-drained soil.

You could try sowing basil and sweet marjoram in individual pots but in cold areas they may do better on a sunny windowsill over the summer rather than out in the garden. If you grow them in the garden they will like the hottest, sunniest and most sheltered spot in your garden.

Mint, lemon balm and chives form large clumps very easily. With herbs and salad growing in pots on your deck throughout the season means that you can just pull a handful of lovely fresh herbs just as you need them.

Lettuce is a dead easy-to-grow fast growing crop, so you can sow the seeds several times over the season but try choosing varieties that you pick a few leaves at a time rather than a whole lettuce. Try growing different colours in a pot and mix with rocket which adds a peppery bite to salads. Radishes grow well in pots too.

Be careful where you put your tubs as hot summer sun causes greens to turn bitter and go to seed quickly. If the weather is consistently over 85 degrees F, move your container to an area that gets cool afternoon shade.

So what happens if you leave your holiday lodge or static caravan for a few weeks at a time during the summer? We’ll it’s always worth asking your neighbour to keep an eye on it or just take the risk that the garden will be OK. Or you can be pro-active and install an automatic watering system that gently pumps water from the tap to your plants using a simple network of narrow pipes and outlets hidden in the garden. This can be controlled manually or by a timer and can be as simple or as sophisticated as you want. They can work from a water butt, but are more efficient and use less water when you install a garden watering system from your mains water tap. Now that you aren’t standing over a hosepipe, or heaving watering cans around you could play some garden games; anyone for badminton, skittles or dominoes?

How do you make use of your garden at your holiday home? Let us know by submitting a comment below.