#Hibernot: How a family keeps winter outdoors fun going

It’s all very well talking about the benefits of #Hibernot – the general sense of well-being and wonder that comes from spending time outdoors during the winter months – but how easy is it actually to do?

The Roebuck family from Greater Manchester became the sweethearts of the #Hibernot campaign when, in mid-December, Land Rover loaned them a Discovery Sport and set up six days of unflinching outdoors fun for them in some of Britain’s most beautiful countryside. The concept: winter isn’t a time to hibernate but an opportunity to get out with your family and embrace the joys of winter adventure: #Hibernot.

The #Hibernot family and what they did

The family – Angela, Tim and two of their children, Ellie and Alex – ghyll-scrambled in the Lake District, foraged for lunch with Ray Mears in Dumfriesshire and went beachcombing with marine wildlife expert Monty Halls on Anglesey. But having these celebrity-sprinkled events laid on for you is very different to pulling on your wellies when you are on your own at home, so have the Roebucks kept up their good work?

It has to be said, the odds on them keeping up their enthusiasm weren’t particularly good – the children were used to DVDs and computers over Christmas and Angela admits that she doesn’t normally like driving.

Being able to comfortably get out and about

“Land Rover let us keep the car for a few months and that has made a huge difference, it’s definitely given me more confidence at the wheel,” says Angela. “We’ve been going out for a lot of little day trips in the countryside around Manchester. It’s the first winter that we’ve had our dog, Humphrey, so we’ve been taking him out with us and, I have to say, the leather seats are very easy to wipe down once you’ve had a muddy dog all over them,” she laughs.

While they have not practised their falconry skills or been rock-climbing again – both activities organised during their Land Rover’s Family Adventure week – even low-key walks around the local woods have been taken up with an unexpected eagerness.

“It’s definitely been easier to get the children out of the house than I thought it would be. Ellie moaned a lot about the cold at the time but she’s just been saying how great the memories have been,” says Angela. “We went to the lake that is nearby us and it was very, very cold but it was just brilliant – especially knowing that we had a nice, comfortable car to get into afterwards.”

Taking a Land Rover on an adventure

In fact, the Discovery Sport, a model not released commercially until late December, became something of a star around Manchester – the family would often come back to it to find it had attracted a small crowd of admirers wanting to cross-examine them about its performance.

“We have all loved having it except Alex,” says Angela. “He spent the other day crying because he said he wouldn’t have had to go to school in the snow if it wasn’t for the Land Rover.”

Read more about #Hibernot

See some of the inspiring images created during the Instagram #Hibernot challenge

What a winter family adventure looks like