6 of the best UK picnic spots

According to a recent National Trust survey, more than a third of people rated being ‘beside the water’ as the most desirable location for a picnic. Aira Force in the Lake District makes a spectacular backdrop to anyone’s chicken drumstick, a classic among the Victorian guidebook viewpoints and one accompanied by the sounds of cascading water. A footpath leads along the beck from the car park, through parkland, woodland and fields, to Gowbarrow Fell for some striking views of Ullswater, then down through Gowbarrow Park, which famously hosted Wordsworth’s golden daffodils.
More details: Nationaltrust.org.uk

Picnic ideas and inspiration
15 prime picnic spots around the UK
Top 10 foods to pack for days out
15 picnic recipes we love
Eating alfresco: gorgeous garden buys
Cool accessories – from hampers to folding chairs
8 great picnic blankets

Take your picnic basket to the final scene in Shakespeare in Love, where Gwyneth Paltrow wanders down on to an infinity of a beach. The best spot for a picnic is a hollow in the dunes, fringed by tufts of Marram Grass. Park along Lady Ann’s Drive, opposite the Victoria Hotel, and follow the boardwalk through the Corsican pines on to the sands.

Picnic ideas and inspiration
15 prime picnic spots around the UK
Top 10 foods to pack for days out
15 picnic recipes we love
Eating alfresco: gorgeous garden buys
Cool accessories – from hampers to folding chairs
8 great picnic blankets

Hampstead Heath is London at its most rural. Drop a stranger in the heart of the 800 acres of luscious, bushy-tailed wilderness and they will swear they have been abandoned in some remote English shire far from the madding crowd. A classic picnic roost is the slope of grass leading from the Robert Adam’s 18th-century Kenwood House to the lake.

Picnic ideas and inspiration
15 prime picnic spots around the UK
Top 10 foods to pack for days out
15 picnic recipes we love
Eating alfresco: gorgeous garden buys
Cool accessories – from hampers to folding chairs
8 great picnic blankets

Sir Walter Scott could well have enjoyed a haggis takeway or two while gazing out over his favourite panorama, aptly known as Scott’s view, overlooking the trio of volcanic Eldon Hills and the snaking river Tweed. Such was his enthusiasm for the spot that the horses pulling his coffin supposedly ignored their driver and paused to let his corpse cast a final look at his beloved knobbly hills before taking him for burial at Dryburgh Abbey on the river bank. Today there is a car park and a path through the gorse (tricky in a kilt) to the steeply sloping picnic spot.

Picnic ideas and inspiration
15 prime picnic spots around the UK
Top 10 foods to pack for days out
15 picnic recipes we love
Eating alfresco: gorgeous garden buys
Cool accessories – from hampers to folding chairs
8 great picnic blankets

Fancy picnicking in a historic park? On an island? Or in the grounds of an atmospheric abbey or castle ruin? The National Trust offers the lot with a unique variety of wonderful picnic spots. Stourhead near Warminster in Wiltshire, is the all-time classic English garden. The 100 rambling acres of 18th-century landscaping, designed to avoid ‘the foot having to travel where the eye has gone before’, are thick with trees, lakes and follies. There are plenty of secluded spots where you can spread your blanket. Take a look at the National Trust website which features a Top 10 of picnic spots.

Picnic ideas and inspiration
15 prime picnic spots around the UK
Top 10 foods to pack for days out
15 picnic recipes we love
Eating alfresco: gorgeous garden buys
Cool accessories – from hampers to folding chairs
8 great picnic blankets