DOGS and children should be outside. That’s what my grandmother used to say as she shooed assorted cousins, corgis and labradors out of the door and from under her feet. Outside we went, into the wild Welsh weather. Again. Our mothers had parked us in our prams outside, come rain or shine, so by 12 months old we were well used to it.

Schools were equally unrelenting. Hurricanes and Force ten gales apart, we were turfed out every break time. Often in between lessons too, for a quick run round the playground. Half of us joined the chess club only for the chance to come in from the cold at lunchtime and drape ourselves pathetically over a luke-warm radiator.

Probably the grown ups just wanted peace, but it was all done in the great name of “fresh air” which was “good for you”. Not any more. Dog owners pay a fortune so that their pets can stay in centrally heated homes with sofas just for them. As for children…a new survey says that they spend less time outside than prisoners. Many have never had the chance to run wild on a beach or in a forest, or even a local park.

Does it matter? Of course it does. The days of roaming the countryside like William and the Outlaws or the Famous Five have gone. Too much traffic. If kids are happy and playing indoors on their gadgets, it’s easy to understand why parents would cheerfully leave them to it.

But if they’re whining, fractious or beating each other up, taking them outside is the easiest way to sort them out. Children need to connect on a very basic level with the natural world. Mud, bugs, nettles and thorns. Ironic, really , that the major encourager of delights such as den-building, mud slides and tree climbing, is the National Trust. Admirable – but not exactly all inclusive.

Those outdoor activities build resilience, confidence and practical aptitude and are simply fun, a vital part of building a rounded person.

Children going to school – often dropped off by car – are often wearing brilliant warm and waterproof clothes that could probably take them to the Arctic. But, sadly, they’ll be lucky to get far as the park.

YOU don’t know whether to laugh or cry at the people who turned up in A & E at James Cook hospital in Middlesbrough over Easter complaining of stomach ache – after they’d wolfed a big Sunday dinner and a box full of Easter eggs.

A Marks and Spencer manager once told me he’d had to look into a complaint about someone being sick after eating one of their Chinese meal deals. It turned out she’d eaten a meal for four all by herself... Just the thought is enough to make most of us feel queasy.

But in among the laughs at the greedy gut-buckets, there’s a well-rehearsed plea for people not to go to A & E unless it really is an Accident or Emergency. Hint for dimwits – the clue’s in the name. Maybe the time has come to start charging. A tenner upfront but you get it back if your visit was justified. Otherwise, tough.

That should boost the NHS coffers a tidy bit. Or reduce the queues.

THE best thing about gin is that it doesn’t give you a hangover… unless you drink a whole bottle, or mix it with cider. And you wouldn’t do that would you? So no surprise then about the news this week that that gin is staging a glorious comeback with lots of small distilleries making my favourite drink cool again.

My breakthrough moment was a gin on Shetland – 60 per cent and beautifully clean. Husband was drinking Britain’s most northerly beer, I drank its most northerly gin. Since then I’ve gathered gins from Wales, Cornwall, Norfolk – though one of my favourites is Durham gin, close to home.

Still , drinking my way along the drinks cupboard is a splendid way of armchair travelling. Cheers.

A robin is trying to build a nest in our garage and squawks crossly at me every time I go in.

Then I shut the garage door when it had just returned with a beak full of dry grass to finish its nest. It sat there and squawked most indignantly with its mouth full until I gave in and opened the garage door again.

I’m sure it could find its own way in and out. But at this rate, maybe I should build a robin-flap…

IT'S hard not to sympathise with Billie Piper and Laurence Fox after the quiet announcement that their marriage was over. No details just a polite plea for privacy and a concern for their small sons.

How different from the shenanigans of Vernon Kay, allegedly sexting a number of woman, including the model who nearly broke up his marriage six years ago. Then he apologised to his wife via his radio show. This time he’s pulled out of TV show and is putting all the details on Facebook. Goodness knows what his daughters make of it.

Sometimes celebrities complain, quite rightly, that the media invade their privacy.

Others, however, are quite capable of invading it all by themselves.