Welcome to picnic season

Eat your way through the summer months with panache as only the British can

- SARAH FITZPATRICK

OUTDOOR eating hits its zenith during the English summer season when, en fête, we dine en plein air. At great houses, on riverbanks and at the races we picnic, never to be outdone, never retreating from the elements and always prepared. It is possible to ‘dine in’ or collect a ready-to-go picnic at the smartest occasions these days. Ascot has expanded its offering this year with a new dining area for Royal Enclosure badge holders inside Car Park Number 1 called The Saddling Club, and Glyndebourne has added Mildmay, where you can have two courses in an hour. But in truth, anything other than BYO on these occasions is rather infra dig. So limber up your buttering arm and, for God’s sake, don’t forget to pack the bottle opener and baby wipes, which are excellent for getting sauce splodges out of your best bib and tucker.

ROYAL ASCOT, 20-24 JUNE

The Royal meeting at Ascot is the picnic Olympics. For this is a blue-riband and blue-blooded affair and one cannot start preparations too early (it takes decades to acquire a coveted spot in Car Park Number 1, although spaces can now be used by family and friends too). Enclosure badge holders who haven’t made it yet can have a jolly time in Car Park Number 7, with picnicking taking on a great range of styles here, from picnic blankets on the ground to picnic tables and folding chairs as well as a few small gazebo tents, which have been known to lift off when the wind gets up.