Where would you go for a picnic?

As National Picnic Week ends in a flurry of rain showers (when was a picnic not threatened by rain?) I got to thinking – not for the first time – who decides on where the best picnic spots are? And how do you grade them? What makes one better than another? Isn’t it due to personal preference anyway? And would you really want to go to any that are suggested if that just means that lots of people will visit them to see if they have lived up to expectations?

The first and second places suggested by the PR agency fronting this concocted celebration were Barafundle Beach in Pembrokeshire and Brownsea Island in Dorset. Both are ideal suggestions but I would be hard-pressed to say one was better than the other. And none of my choices – if I was forced to go on a picnic and I would need to be – are there at all. In the list is only one Welsh site, one Scottish site and none from Northern Ireland. And why include Somerset House in London and not any other London site such as sitting on the river bank or the gardens at Hampton Court or Green Park where hundreds of people flock on a warm day?

Little known places such as Ranmore Common in Surrey, Pendinas in Ceredigion, the hilltop above the beach in Thurso overlooking the Orkneys, by the river in Cenarth in Carmarthenshire, the grounds of Lauriston Castle in Edinburgh where you can gaze over the Firth Of Forth, anywhere you can stop near Malvern looking over the hills all have just as good a claim to be a potentially good picnic site as well. My list could go on and on.
As I said, it all comes down to personal preference. Those that like the sea or rivers might be thoroughly depressed by the thought of somewhere where there might be lots of people. And for that I give thanks. For if we all liked the same thing, these spots would be
crowded.

So take no notice of lists and gradings. Enjoy the places you prefer and try not to tell too many other people. Otherwise that idyllic spot you’ve found won’t be idyllic that much longer.