That's a good way to acquire skin cancer!  My neighbor gardened outside for years without a hat to cover her face, and had skin cancer all over, which eventually killed her.  

Everything should be in moderation.  I'm outside swimming in the summer before 10:00 a.m. and after 3:00 p.m. when the sun is lower in the sky.

In the cooler times of the year, I consume about vitamin D in my multi-mineral tablets.

I'm concerned about taking cod liver oil, because most cod comes from very polluted waters are the Baltic.  There are high levels of PCBs in both the salmon and the cod from that region of the world.

Beccadog, 15 to 20 minutes in the sun is in moderation. It is not even enough for my skin to turn pink. Your neighbour probably spent hours in the sun. When the sun is low in the sky, you will not produce much vitmin D if any. This is one of the reasons why your vitmin D level drops in the winter - the sun is low and has to penetrate more of the atmosphere to reach you which reduces the amount of rays that can produce the vitamin D. Following the policy I do at the moment of making the most of the midday sun in summer my vitamin D levels are good. When I was working in a job that meant the only sun exposure I could get in the summer was when the suns rays were low, my vitamin D was deficient. My chances of living a healthy life are greater when my vitamin D levels are good therefore I am prepared to take the chance in the sun.