Adventure called us - “Star Letter” in the Daily Mirror

For those with a family of young children holidays with pay are a problem. Holidays cost so much that thousands cannot afford them.

I know how it is. My husband is a Corporation employee and he has always had holidays with pay. When the babies came, and while they were small it had to be holidays at home. They didn’t seem like holidays at all, and they certainly weren’t holidays for me.

Still, we trudged around with the pram and made the best of them.

Then we saw a tent in a shop window, and we had an idea. At first it seemed a bit out of the question. Dare we set off in the third year of the war with four small children-our little girl was only eighteen months-on a camping holiday.

But the spirit of adventure held, and we scraped together the money for a tent and bought it. It is a hikers tent, light in weight, but still doing good service. Next we bought two groundsheets and a canvas bucket. We made two rucksacks, and as pressure stoves were then unobtainable, we were lucky to be able to borrow one.

Well, the day came, Everything-blankets,crockery,frying pan-all were packed. We went by bus into Derbyshire and camped for the first night at Peak Forest, at a farm. There was lots of rich new milk for the bedtime cocoa, and a new laid egg for each of the children. That farmer and his wife have probably forgotten us long ago, but we still remember their generosity and kindness.

From there we made our way to the Peak plateau and again camped at a farm. Again we met