Who fancies a day out in Blackpool on Saturday?’ A couple of years ago, I could say this and be guaranteed a unanimous ‘Yes!’ from my daughters.

Now family trips are not so easy to arrange. More often than not, my children have other engagements with their friends – shopping trips, outings to the cinema or parties to go to.

We have to check their diaries before we plan anything, and it makes me sad.

After so many wonderful days out over the years, it seems that now their dad and I are second best.

When we do hit the road, however, we have a great time. Last weekend we visited Fountains Abbey in Yorkshire and both girls said, without being promoted, how much they had enjoyed themselves.

“Are they just saying that?” I said to my husband, when I thought about my childhood, filled with weekend outings to old ruins, where as a teenager I would drag my feet around ancient stones, moan every two minutes and imagine how much fun my pals were having at the cinema.

But I’m certain my daughters’ feelings were genuine. And I think on balance that given the choice between the trip and a day with pals, they would have opted to come with us.

Last summer my eldest daughter chose a family outing to a sculpture park over an afternoon with friends, and my youngest has twice decided to come with us to the coast rather than go shopping with mates.

Now there is concrete evidence that children love such trips.

A survey found that more than half of children in the UK feel that family days out are more important than Christmas presents, and 64 per cent aged between seven and 17 think they are more important than having the latest gadgets.

I’m not sure why I felt like that at their age, but in the midst of my misery looking at stones on the North York Moors, I must have subconsciously enjoyed myself.

I have very fond memories of those days, and have asked my dad to identify certain places that I remember in my mind’s eye.

I keep wondering how long it will be before my children stop coming with us. Girls last longer than boys.

My friend’s sons have already reached that point, and my brother stopped wanting to go on family outings long before I did, despite being two years younger.

We still, however, have to check diaries. What is irritating, is that my daughters never check what we are doing before asking to be ferried from A to B.

They know we have no social life whatsoever and unless one of us is hit by a bus, we will always be free.