Gardens to Visit
Please check opening times before visiting any of these gardens.
Cragside, Rothbury, Morpeth, Northumberland NE65 7PX
Created by the Victorian industrialist and inventor, Lord Armstrong, this dramatic handmade rock garden is one of the largest in Europe. With five lakes, waterfall, maze, Italianate ornamental garden, play area and millions of trees that are home to the endangered red squirrel, this is a garden with something for everyone.
Felbrigg Hall, Norwich, Norfolk NR11 8PR
A 17thcentury house with a walled garden full of herbaceous bedding, extensive woodland and lakeside walks. See the rose garden in full summer bloom and the exotic plants including the rare “Headache Tree”.
Longstock Park Water Gardens, Longstock, Hampshire SO20 6EH
The International Lily Society has judged Longstock to be the finest water garden in the world. It covers seven acres and boasts a huge array of plants from all over the world, including 40 different varieties of water lily. Limited opening times.
Packwood House, Packwood Lane, Lapworth, Warwickshire B94 6AT
Famed for its magnificent yew trees which are more than 350 years old and planted, according to legend, to represent the ‘Sermon on the Mount’. Summer highlights are the superbly lush herbaceous borders crammed with plants in the labour-intensive ‘mingled style’, the wildflower meadows full of cowslips and irises, and the productive kitchen garden.
There is no lovelier way to spend an afternoon in the summer than with a picnic. When I begin to think of picnics I initially think of wicker baskets and check blankets, and then it’s not long before my mind wanders to thoughts of grand affairs complete with raised pies, a wind-up gramophone, elaborate gastronomic delights and home-made lemonade, just like the ones detailed in Mrs. Beeton’s Book of Household Management. Generally the picnics I have been on have been simple affairs, involving a flask of tea and sandwiches that have been squashed into a lunchbox. Undoubtedly whether enjoying a few sandwiches or a banquet in a box, in warm weather food always tastes better outdoors and it’s not surprising that outdoor dining has a rich history.
Whether a hunter, gatherer, shepherd, fair-goer or weary traveller, people have been eating outside since the beginning of time. There is nothing new about fast food and our ancestors would have been accustomed to impromptu open-air dining, just as fleets of invading armies were expected to eat al fresco. However, whilst informal outside dining may have roots in necessity, the idea of formal out-of-doors eating has a long history in many cultures. The Chinese are known to feast by the graveside of a loved one, just as the ancient Romans had done, whilst the Japanese picnic is often a feast for the eyes and the stomach that is organised to mark events such as the blooming of the cherry blossom.
The term “picnic” is derived from the French “pique-nique”, meaning an informal meal eaten in the open air where everyone would bring a little something to the feast, adding a connotation of pot-luck to the proceedings. From the humble beginnings of just a simple meal outdoors through to the colossal hunting feasts of the medieval period the picnic has evolved and seems to have captured the attention of our pens as well as our stomachs. From Chaucer’s garden picnic in The Franklin’s Tale to Jane Austen’s disastrous outing to Box Hill, picnics have become so adored by the British that they frequently appear in our literature. One of my all-time favourite references is in The Wind in the Willows where Ratty’s picnic is held in a “fat, wicker luncheon basket”, a description that I find as enchanting as an adult as I did when I was a child. Oh I would still love to relax on the riverbank with the contents of Ratty’s picnic basket. I’ve read many recent suggestions for picnics that include recipes for tapas, cold noodles, Thai-style prawn salads and other gastronomic delights, but to me Ratty’s hamper was perfect including cold ham, beef, tongue, French rolls, cress sandwiches, potted meat and ginger beer. If presented with such simple delights I may have been tempted to echo the words of Mole, “O, stop, stop,” cried Mole in ecstasies: “This is too much!”
When preparing for a modern-day picnic it’s easy to ponder over how much hard work goes into something that will last for a few hours and will no doubt result in a fight to keep the wasps away from the lemonade, a battle to keep the ants off the cake and will demand great skill to stop flies from spoiling the sandwiches. As you deliberate over how many sandwiches you should pack, spare a thought for those preparing a picnic in the Victorian era, a time when picnics were very grand affairs. As we pack a cool box or basket with sandwiches and cake, and tuck a blanket under our arm before heading off in pursuit of the ideal picnic spot, we tend to think of a picnic as a carefree activity, but in the Victorian
period it was anything but happygo-lucky, instead it was an occasion requiring precise planning and a lot of hard work. In 1861, the definitive list of the Victorian picnic fare for Britain’s refined folk appeared in Mrs. Beeton’s Book of Household Management. It lists the need for tables, linen, crystal, chairs, servants and gourmet fare that would put many of our modern weddings to shame. The picnic of Mrs. Beeton’s generation was not an informal event but a noteworthy occasion, requiring stamina in the preparation and in the eating. Her “Bill of Fare for a Picnic for Forty Persons” was:
A joint of cold roast beef A joint of cold boiled beef 2 ribs of lamb 2 shoulders of lamb 4 roast fowls 2 roast ducks A ham A tongue 2 veal and ham pies 2 pigeon pies 6 medium sized lobsters One piece of collared calf’s head Salads Biscuits Bread and cheese 122 bottles of drink – plus champagne
The Victorian picnic could not have been fitted in a Brexton picnic case and you’d certainly not decide to go on one of these on the spur of the moment. Indeed 122 bottles of drink, plus champagne, makes the rather decadent description of a picnic made perfect by the addition of “a couple of bottles of Bollinger”, that appears in Very Good Jeeves (1930) seem rather low-key and even puts Ratty’s picnic to shame.
I keep things simple when preparing picnics. I favour traditional sandwiches with fillings that are not too moist, simple salads, scones and slab cake that can stand up to travelling. One thing I don’t like to include is uninvited guests, in the form of creepy-crawlies, so I always pack a tin of baby talc with me to make a boundary around my dining site and I find ants don’t dare to cross the line! I also take a spray bottle containing strong mint mouthwash to deter flies. With food about you don’t want to be spraying chemicals, but a few squirts of mint mouthwash seems to keep the bugs at bay.
When it comes to creating the perfect picnic don’t forget to pack the mustard and a few pickles. I like to include Scotch eggs and a cold cutting pie, but the key is whatever is included has to taste better cold than warm. I make my own Scotch eggs because I like a soft yolk and the taste of the original British treat that was enjoyed by Enid Blyton’s Famous Five as they ran headlong into another adventure. I’m not partial to the perfectly round, orange breadcrumbed Scotch eggs available in the supermarkets, to me they taste of stale disappointment and are the bland result of mass manufacturing.
The Scotch egg is true picnic food and it didn’t originate in Scotland. The most popular story about its origin belongs to the food emporium Fortnum & Mason. They claim that they invented the Scotch egg at their Piccadilly headquarters in the 18th century as an affluent travellers’ snack. This was a time when Piccadilly was full of coaching inns and as wealthy landowners set off on long carriage journeys to reach their country estates they required portable snacks and so the Scotch egg was developed by enterprising staff as a tasty morsel wickwe that could easily fit in a handkerchief. Fortnum & Mason do not hold an exclusive claim on the invention of this wellloved snack and a few rumours about its origins exist including that it was an export from the British Raj. Whatever the truth, the first reference of a Scotch egg recipe appeared in 1809 in Mrs. Rundell’s cookbook entitled, A New System of Domestic Cookery and is very different to modern-day recipes. In case you’re wondering, the name of the Scotch egg came about as “scotched” means processed, referring to wrapping a boiled egg in meat and then breadcrumbs.
With the food organised a bit of thought has to go into choosing the drinks. Cider and white wine are always popular choices, but they must be kept cold. For me a glass of fiery homemade ginger beer is always a favourite, but I have encountered a few disasters involving exploding ginger-beer bottles, sticky cars and ginger-beer infused sandwiches, so this year I have taken to packing lemonade and tucking a bottle of cherry brandy in the hamper, just in case I fancy a tipple in the sunshine!
So whether you’re inclined to enjoy a cheese and pickle sandwich and a hot drink out of a flask, or a Scotch egg and a few bottles of fizz, let’s hope the sun shines and the tea stays hot whilst the food stays cool. Let’s be honest though, the British don’t let a little thing like the weather spoil a picnic. Indeed, a spot of damp grass won’t deter us from laying down a rug and eating out of Tupperware, after all, defiance of the weather is one of our most endearing national characteristics.