I suppose I have always been interested in naturism, even when I was a kid. I remember my mother had a hard time getting me to keep my clothes on. I remember long hot summers when I would quite happily wander around naked and I would encourage other kids to do the same, which didn't go down too well with their parents. Then when I was older I got into trouble at school for stripping off in the playground, and slowly I began to learn that nudity was wrong. I never understood why, but for some reason I was a bad person for wanting to feel the freedom of no clothes.

It wasn't until I was in my teens that I began to rebel, as any teenager would. Why was it wrong? What was so bad about being naked? But by then I had become conditioned by the adults around me. I still enjoyed being naked, but I had learned not to get caught. I lived in a country house with my family and we had a large secluded garden. I would wait until everyone had gone out before stripping off and lying out in the sun. Often this meant declining an invitation to go into town with my family or friends on the grounds that I was "studying". I would look forward to the chance to be alone just so that I could get naked in private.

Of course there were a few near misses when my parents would come home unexpectedly, and I'd be scrambling to get dressed behind the garden shed as they drove up the drive. There was one occasion when I had left my clothes behind the shed and wandered across the lawn to lay in a patch of sunshine when I heard someone enter through the side gate. It was our neighbour, an elderly gentleman who would most certainly have disapproved of my nudity and reported me to my parents. I had no choice but to dive behind some bushes as he walked around the corner of the house and onto the lawn where I had been. I literally threw myself to the ground, my heart hammering like a machine gun. As he crossed he lawn to our back door I had to crawl along to keep the bushes between us. He knocked on the door and stood for some time looking around him as he waited for a reply. I'd crawled so far around the bushes to remain out of his sight that I was now in full view of the gate he had just come through, totally naked and with my clothes in a bundle behind the shed on the other side of the lawn. Eventually, he realised that no-one was home and left, as I crawled in the opposite direction to remain hidden. As soon as the coast was clear I sprinted back to my clothes and dressed, exhausted by the thrill of my near miss.

As I got older I also got more daring and ventured to a nearby woodland. A small road ran past the woods, but I enjoyed the excitement of ducking behind a tree each time a car went by. Each time I visited the woods, I'd venture a little further, testing myself to see how brave I was without my clothes. I discovered a small pond on the far side of the woods and would make it my mission to strip off, leave my clothes in a safe place, and wander right through the woods to the pond. My goal was to take a dip in the water before returning to my clothes. There were near misses here too. Once I got all the way to the pond and was about to step out from the trees and into the water when I noticed a man standing there on the other side. He was the land owner and his back was turned. I didn't hang around. I ran all the way back to my clothes, dressed, and continued running home.

Mostly these activities I kept to myself, and looking back I was lucky not to have got into some serious trouble or even hurt. At the time it was a challenge. A challenge to myself to see how far I could go, and each time I dared myself to go a little further.