I’D never thought of my childhood as “idyllic” or even particularly special but it must have been.

Growing up in an inner city suburb we never received pocket money, had a bike if we were lucky and played outside in the street every day.

There were no computers or videos then. Our house was one of the first locally to get a telly, which meant we often had other kids watching the black and white wonder with us.

We wore our wellies to explore local canals and rivers, disappeared for hours at a time and walked to school about a mile away. We also built bonfires on spare land around November 5, and sand castles whenever we went to the seaside.

By the lights of recent research, this was a typically happy and active childhood, which today’s – and possibly tomorrow’s – children may never get to experience.

Eco Attractions, an alliance of visitor hotspots which includes the Eden Project, carried out the research showing that children today have so much more to keep them amused like computers, a host of TV channels and smartphones that they’re missing out on the simple childhood pleasures of getting dirty in the mud or even spending much time in the fresh air.

This is very sad, and worrying, news because so much of these most straightforward and free pleasures involve just going outside and running about. In other words, getting exercise and keeping naturally healthy.

Playing in the rain, gong for a picnic or a bike ride or just skimming stones across a river or lake are very basic activities which have a great joy element built into them.

Children discover so much about themselves and how to develop as balanced individuals through play. Modern parents often believe they show their love by buying their child the latest iPhone when the real gift is time – taking them out and about and allowing them the freedom of discovery.

As a result, just having a conker fight (probably now banned on health and safety grounds anyway), going blackberry picking or climbing a tree could become totally alien activities to our children, and their children.

We, as caring and law-abiding citizens, battle to retain our heritage in everything from buildings to byways yet we seem happy to lose the very essence of childhood without putting up a fight. Perhaps it’s about time we did.