Train your dragon by Dea Birkett

My nine-year-old twins love Cressida Cowell. We’ve read the book and seen the film. We’re completely fired up by How to Train Your Dragon.

In a recent interview, the author said she was inspired to write by spending summer holidays as a child on a small, uninhabited Scottish island where there was nothing to do. So instead of kids clubs, water slides, soft play areas, rooms with play consoles and activities, activities, activities, she spent her holidays ‘drawing and making up stories’.

Like the Cowell family, we go on regular holidays to a small island, not off Scotland, but off County Mayo, Ireland. But we stash the car with so many of our urban belongings that now we have to take a trailer, to accommodate everything we think we might need. We always go by ferry – we abandoned flying some time ago, having discovered if we book a cabin on the crossing from Holyhead to Dublin, we get a couple of hours kip on the ship and are all prepped up for the six hour drive the other side.

But we haven’t discovered how to divest ourselves of all our worldly goods. It’s curious how it’s far easier to abandon them when going somewhere hot. We don’t mind if there’s nothing for the kids to do on a tropical island resort except splash about on the beach. But if the temperature isn’t dragon’s breath, we feel we need to take loads and loads of stuff to keep the kids amused.

But inspired by the Cowells, we’re going to pack lightly this trip. No more essential toys, essential games, essential bits of electronic kit. (Although persuading the man to leave behind his laptop and iPhone won’t be possible.) We’ll take paper and pencils, to draw or write with. I’ll report the results back to you. Fingers crossed, one of us will pen a bestseller.


Irish Ferries has regular sailings from Holyhead to Dublin

Cressida Cowell, How to Train Your Dragon, is published by Hodder Children’s Books.

The film How to Train Your Dragon is on general release.