Enjoy playtime in playhouses

My mum and dad cut a door into a cardboard box and drew some windows on it for me, but now you can buy amazing structures for your little darlings to play in.

Made from plastic or wood you can choose from a vast array of cottage, castle or Barbie pink style playhouses. Most home retailers or DIY stores such as Argos and Next, Homebase or B&Q have cheap and cheerful playhouses available but if you are after something more sturdy or flamboyant really the sky is your limit.

There is of course the basic one room play house which comes as a flatpack and is easy to assemble. From here there are playhouses with more than one room and even more than one storey, or even forts up on stilts complete with climbing frame and slide.

John Lewis are selling Hideaway Cabins for £79.99 – which to me look very similar to a small playhouse, or Country Cottages and Log Cabins from £249.95. At the top of their range is Bramble Cottage which has double storey windows and an internal loft area. It boasts Georgian windows (ten of them) and shutters on all windows. This is a snip at just £599 although be aware that it arrives as a flat pack and you will need to construct it yourself.

Many other retailers sell playhouses in all shapes, sizes and colours according to your child’s wishes and the amount of space you have in the garden. If you have a lower budget you could always try Argos who have a reasonable selection starting at £69.99 or Tesco who have a surprisingly good range of solid wood playhouses starting at £179.