Hello, hello, hello! I know I’m late for a very important date and this post comes long overdue… please forgive me. The past few weeks have been dominated by a gargantuan, looming deadline (more on that to come) and everything else has fallen, somewhat tragically, by the wayside. BUT here I am; and there is so much to catch up on! I’ll be sending out a couple of extra posts over the coming days and weeks to make up for the ones I missed.
AND in very good news indeed: it’s now officially picnic season! I love a picnic. For my 21st birthday I chose to host a picnic, rather than having a dinner or a lunch or going to the pub: we took baskets full of food - cold sausages, cheese sandwiches, quail eggs, miniature pork pies, jellies, punnets of strawberries and tins of chocolate chip cookies - and bottles of champagne to the park, where we set up camp under a shady tree, and lounged on a patchwork of blankets. Friends came and went. Someone brought a croquet set. It was all rather Brideshead Revisited; and of all the parties that I’ve hosted since, I still remember this one so fondly as a favourite.
Beyond its innately halcyon quality, I love a good picnic for practical reasons too: not least because you can invite as many people as you like, without any of the usual worries about space and fitting everyone in and having enough crockery and cutlery to go round (hello, delicious food that you can eat with your fingers). So, here’s to more eating barefoot on the grass this summer; here’s to long, lazy days lounging under a shady tree with strawberries and clotted cream; and here is everything that I know about picnics:
The Spot
Choosing the right spot is key. Ideally, you want a mix of shade and sun, so you can set the blankets and the food somewhere cool and shady, but also be able to lounge or read a book in the sun . I usually look out for a nice, big and shady tree, then settle myself under there, but, depending on how big a production you’re happy to take on, you might also want to bring your own shade canopy (like this one) or a sun parasol. And depending on the size and scale of your picnic (i.e. how much kit you’re bringing and how many people you’re expecting), you also want to think about access when choosing your spot (can you drive right up to the spot with a car? Is it far to walk? And so on and so forth…). Bonus points for nice views. And I always think that it’s quite nice if you can be somewhere secluded, away from lots of other people, if possible.
The Kit
You don’t need to rush out and buy a whole lot of kit: but you will need a blanket (or few) to sit on; and I can’t help but feel that while you can perfectly well pack everything away into any old bag, a picnic basket of some kind really sets the mood and scene. I love this pretty picnic basket but this one here with the cute gingham lining is also charming - and you can have it personalised. You could also go all out and buy a picnic hamper that includes plates, glasses, cutlery and so forth - this one here, for example is nice, or this one - but I like the flexibility of being able to pack up what I need on any given day, and to cater for a larger group, so I prefer to make up my own basket with my own bits and bobs. Depending on how much food and kit you’re taking with you, you’ll likely need to supplement your picnic basket with a few other vessels to carry the overflow: you might want a cooler to store drinks and any food that’s best kept chilled (I’m obsessed with this chic wicker cooler); beyond that I find that an open basket which you can easily pack high and cram with things, like this one, is also useful (and can be repurposed at home for storage when not picnic-ing); as is a nice big tote bag, like this one or this one.
I like to drape a tablecloth over the blankets to create a designated ‘table’ area and to set the scene for a proper meal: a white tablecloth (or even a white sheet) is nice for this and sets a light, airy and fresh scene; but otherwise, checked like this one, or patterned, or whatever you have at home, works well.
The simplest picnics are the ones where you can eat everything with your fingers and so you don’t really need to worry about crockery and cutlery. Nonetheless, I always quite like to take plates with me: either my plates from home (and just try to be extra careful when transporting them) or enamel plates are a great, hardy option. I love these classic ones in white with a bold, colourful rim, that have quite a vintage ‘50s feel about them; or, for something a little fancier, these ones with a marbled print are beautiful. If you don’t want to have to take glasses with you, you can buy miniature (ideally glass) bottles for each person to drink from; or for absolute ease go with paper cups (I love these stripe-y ones, or these with a colourful majolica print are quite fun). Otherwise pack some sturdy glass tumblers like these or enamel tumblers. Most importantly, don’t forget napkins (paper or linen, as you like).
For packing up the food, avoid plastic both for aesthetic and environmental reasons: I like to use tins (vintage ones like these, if you can find them, are a nice touch: you’ll find lots of options if you do a quick search on Ebay and Etsy) or glass tupperware (though this can be a little on the heavier side to carry) or disposable paper boxes are quite a good, practical option (and come with the added bonus that you can toss everything away at the end of the picnic).
You’ll also need to think about how to dispose of any rubbish, so don’t forget to bring a bin bag (or two) with you!
The Food
I love picnic food! It’s all my favourites - and for some reason, something about eating outdoors, barefoot and on the grass that makes everything taste extra-special good. For picnic inspiration my go-to cookbooks are Claudia Roden’s Picnics and Other Feasts (which is, undoubtedly, the bible in this matter) and Joanna Weinberg’s How To Feed Your Friends with Relish (which has an excellent and very helpful section specifically on picnics). A few of my favourite dishes to pack for a picnic include:
anything that you can eat at room temperature and which is hardy enough to travel well is ideal: savoury tarts and quiches (bring whole, in their tin, then set on a board and slice for everyone to help themselves) or bake individual small ones; a good potato salad (I’m especially partial to the new potato, lemon and samphire salad in A Table For Friends); a nice tomato salad (just tomatoes, roughly chopped with olive oil, salt and pepper - and you could add some thinly sliced red onion and/or some black olives if you like); any kind of grain salad (lentils, for example, tossed with some grilled vegetables, a crumbling of feta cheese and lots of olive oil); a good pasta salad (some ideas here); or a flask of chilled soup with mugs or cups to sip it from (both the gazpacho and the chilled almonds soup in A Table for Friends are great options for this).
sandwiches! Lots of sandwiches, which you can fill with pretty much whatever you fancy. I prefer more rustic-looking sandwiches in crusty baguette or ciabatta, which I can’t help but feel both last and travel better than the more delicate, crustless finger-sandwich kind, but it’s really you’re call. To transport the sandwiches, wrap each one in greaseproof paper and then tie with some twine: this looks quite pretty and holds everything together nicely; alternatively, pop each sandwich into a brown paper bag and seal tightly, either with twine or simply by wrapping the bag round itself tightly. As to sandwich fillings, the world really is your oyster, but some of my favourites include: cold roast beef with rocket and mustard; chicken with butter lettuce and mayonnaise; boiled egg with mango chutney; mortadella with coarsely chopped pistachio; tomato and mozzarella - with some prosciutto too, if you like; a classic ploughman’s with cheddar and pickle; mozzarella, prosciutto and slivers of fresh figs; honey and Manchego or pecorino cheese; and so on and so forth…
fresh fruit and vegetables: punnets of strawberries, peaches, apricots and cherries - ideally fruit that you can eat as is, without needing to slice or peel. And, by the same principle, lots of fresh vegetable crudités such as chunks of fennel (ready sliced), carrots (baby carrots are nice and bite-sized for this but otherwise, the regular variety cut into sticks); celery sticks; peppery radishes; and peppers, sliced into strips. Then to go with the veggies bring a nice pot of hummus, mayonnaise or aioli in a jar for dipping.
food that comes in its own packaging: best of all for this are boiled eggs with a small pot of celery salt for dipping; and in the same spirit, quail eggs (also unpeeled and still in their shell). Also good are: packets of crisps; and I quite like individual small yogurt pots (just don’t forget to bring spoons).
good bread, cheeses and charcuterie: bring a board and a knife, then just lay everything out.
pudding! I don’t think you can go wrong with a good, sturdy cake - something like a fruitcake, Dundee cake, coffee and walnut cake or gingerbread cake, the kind of cake you imagine everyone eating in an Enid Blyton storybook and that travels well in a tin and won’t get smushed on the journey. Other good options are pots of clotted cream to go with punnets of strawberries; individual fairy cakes with fondant icing; a tin of meringues; small glass jars (I repurpose old glass yogurt pots) filled with pannacotta, jelly or even chocolate mousse (you can make little lids for them with small squares of fabric or greaseproof paper, then hold them on with an elastic band or twine or ribbon).
and last but not least, drinks: you want plenty of water, either bottled water or tap water in glass bottles like this; I always insist on pink lemonade at picnics, but ginger beer is another nice option, and I also like homemade iced tea (either peach or lemon flavoured - there’s a good recipe for it in A Table in Venice). Beyond that, it’s whatever you fancy, be it champagne or Pimms (which you can mix in advance then bottle in glass bottles) or what have you… If it’s going to be a hot day, you might want to put drinks in the freezer overnight then let them slowly defrost over the course of the day, so they’re ice cold when it comes to drinking them…
Other Essentials
Beyond the food and the bits and bobs for the setup, you want to take everything that you need with you to make a day of it: I always like to take a big straw sun hat, for shade and also because it just feels picnic-y (some wonderful sun hats here to choose from, and also this one and this one); a good SPF if it’s a very sunny day is probably sensible; and a glam pair of sunglasses (these are current favourites). Then books and/or magazines and weekend papers to read; and a few games for everyone to play, such as cards (which has the advantage of being highly portable), any board games you like or croquet.
So there we go: everything I know about picnics. If there is anything that you would like to add, please do drop a note in the comments below - I would love your thoughts…
And in the meantimes, wishing you the happiest summer with lots of happy picnic-ing ahead!
S xx
. That looks so beautiful. I would also recommend ‘Margot Henderson’s ‘you’re all invited’ for her picnic tips for those of us not so blessed with summer weather. I usually picnic on beaches in north Scotland and swear by a tripod and a cauldron for tagine then made flatbreads over the fire
How fabulous! Always ready to channel the Famous Five and lashings of ginger beer. Thank you, Skye, for so much wonderful inspiration and the perfect day for it 🌞