The Hour

With the summer holidays upon us we've decided to rope survival expert Patrick McGlinchey in to help teach a couple of dads how to make the most of the great outdoors with their kids.

School holidays used to mean endless summers spent climbing trees, scuffing knees and getting up to no good in the woods with your pals.  But for kids these days it seems to be just an excuse to spend more time on the couch playing Playstation and watching TV.

That's why The Hour has enlisted the help of survival expert Patrick McGlinchey to help a couple of dads rediscover the excitement of the outdoors, and hopefully pass that on to the next generation.  They'll be running around in the woods learning how to build dens out of things found on the forest floor, and make tree swings just as good as those they remember.

First up is Gary Divers, who will be learning how to make a den in the woods.  With the help of fellow dad Steve, Gary and Patrick build an amazing looking den out of massive branches and bracken that they find on the ground.  The whole structure allows for the three men to comfortably sit inside with a cup of tea, and the den is even waterproof!  But how will Gary fare when he has to make the den with only his son Jay's assistance?

Gary and Jay set about the task with gusto, Jay almost knocking himself over with the weight of some of the branches he tries to carry.  With the branch-skeleton of the den in place, the pair set about collecting leaves and bracken from the ground to provide more shelter from the elements.  Thankfully Jay is much better at picking up the bracken, no doubt helped by the fact that, as he puts it: "I can hold loads cause I've got hundreds of hands!"

So what does Jay think of his new den? "This is a good den" he says.  "Can we take it home?"  Jay's mum had better be ready to field requests to move housepretty soon... into the woods.