When the sun's shining, there's nothing better than a leisurely picnic with friends.
The Telegraph July 14, 2010
PERFECT FOR... SHOPPING & A PICNIC
Route: Windsor to Castle Donnington
Road: A4
Berkshire’s countryside may be commutable, but it also makes for a surprisingly photogenic drive: the area around Donnington Castle is peppered with ‘pick your own’ farms, country pubs, and villages with names that sound like mildly saucy endearments (Honey Bottom?).
For the perfect picnic, start off in Windsor and pick up supplies at Windsor Farm Shop
(https://www.windsorfarmshop.co.uk/). From here, you could bomb down the M4 to your destination, but far better to
divert through surrounding country lanes, through tiny hamlets and across golden fields, then park the car for
an amble around the castle and across the neighbouring farmland towards a peaceful spot for lunch.
PERFECT FOR... A DATE
Route: Cheltenham to Chipping Camden and back
Roads: A46, A44 and A427
The countryside doesn’t come more romantic than The Cotswolds — it’s so slushy that it even has its own ‘Romantic Road’ route — the loop from Cheltenham to Chipping Camden and back, which takes in postcard-perfect towns, tiny villages and long swathes of buttermilk-coloured countryside.
Half-way through your drive, pull over in the remote village of Snowshill, for lunch — you'll find the best picnic spots lurking just outside the centre or in the neatly landscaped gardens of the National Trust's Snowshill Manor. This golden-stone mansion has a shop full of local produce, so you can even create your picnic on the spot.
PERFECT FOR... A QUICK FAMILY PICNIC
Route: the Isle of Wight
Roads: A3054 and A3055, around the Isle of Wight
Polka-dotted with picnic spots, the Isle of Wight is a lovely place to drive around and a great place for a spur-of-the -moment day out with children. Take your car over on the ferry in the mornng then you can take a nice spin around the island — you can get all the way round, in a loop, on the A3054 and A3055.
Outside of the school summer holidays, you'll find plenty of empty places to park your basket: beautiful Bembridge beach and the long, shingly stretch at Freshwater are best. Get supplies in the old part of Shanklin, an olde world sliver of a hill, full of cider and chutney shops and bakeries.
PERFECT FOR... A QUINTESSENTIALLY BRITISH DAY OUT
Route: the Suffolk Coast
Road: A12 Aldeburgh to Lowestoft
Liberally scattered with turnstiled fields, twitcher-heavy marshland and blustery beaches, the stretch of
Suffolk coast between Aldeburgh and Lowestoft has picnic spots aplenty, and is a perennial favourite of British holidaymakers. Meander from A to B on the A12, diverting for impromptu adventures whenever you like what you read on a signpost (don't miss lovely little Middleton with its thatched pub, the Old Bell, or the dreamy, wild beach at Covehithe).
But the best place for lunch is undoubtedly in the shade of the church ruins in the village of Walberswick: buy supplies 10 minutes’ drive down the road at The Black Olive Deli in swanky Southwold (80a-80b High Street).
© Copyright of Telegraph Media Group Limited 2010
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