Good morning. Thanks for well-wishes. Am feeling a lot better now, thanks.
Yes def for meetup. More central makes sense so more can come. I'm more of a minimalist camper really, but should will survive bigger. The one nice thing that I would say about small is that the children could potter around in the field whilst you could keep an eye on them, the slightly bigger ones than ds could go to the compost toilet (open top at the very far end of the field) on their own whilst still visible when walking, and the older ones could go exploring in surrounds. Oh, and the obligatory fire, of course. One of my favorite sites is blackberry woods, but that kind of place would probably not work for meetup. Field was good. Am easy either way though, so as I don't know anything other than South East camping, will go with your suggestions.
SeaShells, i didn't look at her tents in the end as I think people were camping in them, so didn't want to impose. We camped in field a little away from main house. Dh did go walking around with the boys, and he said set-up from outside looked nice (I slept most of Saturday morning).
Bramble, yay for chicks! How exciting. I'm always a bit in awe hearing about what you get up to in your spare time, btw. Mine is mainly spent sitting reading or, uhm, doing as little as possible thinking. This is also the reason why I am a big fat slob.
Hey Yellow, can I send ds for tidying lessons? I realized the other day that we've bought him way too much toys when he started wanting to give toys away to every visiting child. The guilt of a single child working family trying to overcompensate, I guess. Not healthy.
Yes, Mucho, I have to admit it was a bit terrifying sticking that blade through the canvas. In the end I decided to just do it and hope and pray for the best. It was a relief once done, because there wouldn't have been a better time anyway. We did take a responsible approach to pitching though, being far enough away from all other tents and having fire extinguisher, water, knife and carbon monoxide alarm with us. I felt all grown up and responsible.
Oh, me trying to chop wood must have looked really funny. I loved it and got there eventually, but it must have looked like the chopping equivalent of a toddler trying to write. Most definitely not as effortlessly as those guys on the videos. Oh, and no way in hell I'm ever going to be able to carve anything. On one of the YouTube videos a guy made a bowl! 