Playing old-fashioned outdoor games is a great way of adding a new dimension to those five o’clock drinks, and there are plenty that are easy to set up.
Put your DIY skills to the test to create your own set, or you can do what I did – I trawled local junk shops for lawn bowls and spent many of my sunny afternoons being soundly beaten by anyone who would play with me.
Skittles
I was the Great Somerford champion a decade or three ago, beating Princess Anne’s then mother-in-law to the title, despite drinking too much cider. If the junk shops don’t deliver, it’s easy to DIY.
Quoits
This is a great game to play after a couple of drinks. If you can’t find the real thing, a post in the ground and anything with a big hole in the middle will do the trick. But be warned – you may be a champion when you’re stone cold sober, but anything more than two drinks and the post will get further away and the hole smaller.
Croquet
A croquet set is on my wish list this Christmas. Croquet is often thought of as a genteel game for parties accompanied by Pimm’s, but in fact it’s a vicious struggle between consenting adults. It’s a wonder more people haven’t copped a
belt from the mallet when they’ve trashed an opponent.
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