At every opportunity I would go up into the hills surrounding my home town. Away from people, catching snakes and frogs, trying to pick up echidnas, going out onto the dam on my homemade raft, built with Boyscout skills. Loved my childhood in the thickly wooded West Coast of Tasmania.
It is a delight that has stayed with me my whole life.
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Similar Bretrick,
My grandparents lived quite literally next to quite an expanse of ancient woodlands including Oxleas on the border of London and Kent.
Iâd stay with them on a regular basis and was frequently taken out for walks and would collect all manner of things from sticks, mosses, sweet chestnuts when they were in season which were roast on a shovel over an open fire. The Autumn was my favourite season, as well as the chestnuts there were all different types of fungi to discover.
Oh, and exploring beaches at low tide, rock pooling was almost a passion! Not to mention fishing 
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Itâs the opposite for me. I spent my childhood years in busy London where I was born. I left 30 yrs ago. I remember spending weekends and summer holidays in the parks, playing on the swings and slides . My favourite was the swing, I could spend hours swinging away while my dad patiently waited for me, sitting on the park bench.
Now I live in the countryside, peace and quiet, enjoying nature at its best.
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May I ask what part of London Rose?
I grew up just a short walk from Regents Park, spent a lot of time on the swings and slides not to mention regular trips to London Zoo which is just up the road by Camden Town. 
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Camden Town is quite near where we lived. We lived in Islington,Holloway.
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AhâŠI lived there too for a while in The Liverpool Road, rented a nice flat with my girlfriend for ÂŁ90 a week all bills includedâŠthe good old days⊠
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Being born in an air raid shelter in1940 meant most of my earliest years were spent dodging the bombs. During the Fifties there were plenty of bomb sites I used wander around finding wrecked bicycles, taking them home and making one rideable one out of a couple of badly damaged ones. Left school at 14 and started work at 14.
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Born on a farm on the Cotswolds, spent lots of time cycling around with my brothers, and yes building bikes out of bits of old bike. We built all sorts from tree houses to trollies. In the hot summer months parents took us down to the Severn where we could picnic, play in the mud, find fossils, float down river on an on tractor inner tube. On the farm we grew wheat, barley and potatoes, so certain times of the year I was helping out with that.
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âŠand many years later we have become those fossils. 
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I got into mischief on the farm.
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Iâm rapidly becoming the prehistoric, I guess. 
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Roller skating was a big pastime for me.
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Just like you Bretrick but in poorer weatherâŠ
Out in the fields from dawn until dusk, collecting birds eggs, climbing trees, making denâs, and watching the steam trains pass by with miles of wagons full of coal. Shooting anything that moved with catapults, damming streams, collecting frogspawn, stealing potatoes from a farmers field and roasting them over a fireâŠ
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Pretty much the same as today.
Swimming.
Horses/Dogs
Walking in the hills or forests.
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I was a tomboy when i was a youngster,climbing trees,climbing onto buildings and once fell of a roof into a church.
Thankfully i grew out of that,probably around the age of 10.
Spent a heck of along time being stitched up and having bones mended,a nightmare for my parents.
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Like many kids, I was also into the activities mentioned.
Looking for that perfect fork of wood for making a catapult and carving it out. Going into the leather shop for that bit of leather that would make the pouch and the model shop for the elastic. Quite a science went into making a good âcattyâ. Got into a bit of trouble with it once and stopped using it.
I used to collect birds eggs and one day, collected a Wood Pigeons egg. I pierced the shell both ends and blew into one of the pin holes to clear the shell of its contents. It upset me greatly when a baby bird fell out. That was the last egg I would ever collect.
All sorts of ânot niceâ things were thought OK for kids to do in the 50s and early 60s and I regret some actions to this day.
I loved roller skating just prior to being a teenager. A bit of a boast but I was king of the road on roller skates. Had a few falls and injuries because I was the most daring.
One time, there were three of us going down a hill in a chain. The others wouldnât be first in the line so we all went down with me in front and the my friend hanging onto my waist and another friend hanging onto his.
All was well until I couldnât avoid a manhole cover. I went over onto the tarmac and the others had a cushioned landing right on top of me. I knew it was bad when we all got up and they stared at me. The side of my face was scraped and covered in blood. On getting home, my Mum looked at me and shouted âWhat have you done!â. I was taken straight to the doctors and the people waiting there felt so sorry for me that they let me go to front of the queue. Happy days! 
When I was older and had a family, I took the children roller skating at the Sports Centre. I hadnât lost my touch and found after a few minutes I could still skate. Never kept it up though.
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Quite a skill involved in catty making mart, I once shot a bird with it and the next door neighbour heard the commotion, he said I couldnât release an injured bird and he made me break itâs neck to put it out of itâs miseryâŠThatâs the last time I ever shot at a bird or used a catty⊠
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I tried to pass the time as best I could. What I can remember off-hand, up to the age of 13 it was about spending time outdoors playing cowboys and Indians, using self-made bows and arrows, wooden swords, maintaining bicycles and repairing punctures, covering increasing distances with the bike, helping in the garden, feeding chickens, making rafts from polystyrene boards, putting pennies on rails and watch them being flattened by passing trains, going bathing and tobogganing/skiing/skating, starting competitive swimming.
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Yes, it takes something like that. I often ask myself why I felt the need to shoot at things. Itâs like we were totally different people to the grown-ups we are today.
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This reminds me of when I fell flat on my face on the ground, while I was boasting my âstanding upâ skills on the swings! 
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