THERE’S just something about good homemade lemonade that’s refreshing and quench-thirsting, a reminder of bygone days!

As a child it was always a tradition to set up a small business from our garden wall selling homemade lemonade for pocket money throughout the summer holidays, but looking back I’m sure we drank most of the profit and were left with empty piggy banks!

This recipe is simple and absolutely quick to prepare - simply stir and chill if you are wanting a huge jug full.

This is an ideal project for the kids to help with, using only three ingredients – it’s great for entertaining or maybe a barbecue would be the perfect setting.

My recipe starts with freshly sliced lemons, but use unwaxed lemons if you can.

If not, simply rinse the lemons under hot water and scrub them well because waxed fruit will leave a nasty scum on the surface and pesticides or fungicides will dissolve into your drink.

So a good tip from me, the better the lemons, the better the lemonade you will have - also skip the bottle lemon stuff too!

Juices straight from real lemons taste much purer and brighter, and it’s great, and well worth the time slicing them. A little more sugar can be added if sour, until it’s just right.

Most lemonade recipes can be over-complicated and they require time standing over a hot hob making a sugar syrup when it’s boiling hot outside.

I don’t know about you, but the last place I want to be is in a hot kitchen on my day off work pushing lemons around in a pan.

It’s also really important to stir the lemonade well before chilling, because you need to dissolve all the sugar otherwise it will have a gritty texture.

The school holidays are now in full swing and the kids can drink a heck of a lot of processed drinks, so it’s always a good feeling making homemade lemonade.

It is free from all those flavourings, additives and colourings. The kids can be autonomous with the ingredients having lots of fun squeezing, squashing and spooning out the lemons.

Old-fashioned shop-bought lemonade is sugary and lacks any lemon, and the fresh kind is extortionately expensive if you actually want to quench your thirst rather than wet your whistle.

So this an ideal candidate for trying out the recipe at home - who can resist the innocent charms of a chilled jug of homemade lemonade, tinkling with ice cubes, on a hot summer’s afternoon?

Lemonade is a garden drink, and only really comes into its own when drunk outside, in the shade of a leafy tree while reading the Keighley News.