With the Summer season hopefully not over yet, it’s time to picnic.

We have already introduced the picnic topic in the previous post about the Ray Davies gig at Kenwood House, Hampstead. We had prior committments during the day (namely: Tweetcamp) so we didn’t go there prepared. We do plan to go to Kenwood again though, this weekend, to see the Gipsy Kings, so we thought you might want to knwo how we are getting ready for the English picnic experience.

What you will need:

• waterproof blanket
• some additional towels
• a basket
• food
• drinks
• umbrellas
• appropriate clothing
• rubbish bags

The blanket and the towels

We realised that last time. You DO need a waterproof blanket. These blankets usually are treated on one side to get them to be waterproof, so that you can lay it on the grass even if it had been raining. They usually fold and you can roll them for ease in carrying them. We suggest some additional towels cause the waterproofing might just not be as good as you wuould have expected. They are usually not very expensive.

The basket

There’s a lot to be said on the traditional wicker basket: it surely is the stand-out item in this list. There’s a lot of choice in terms of whether you might want just a basket or a proper picnic basket. Picnic baskets usually come in sets with cutlery and all sorts of things, with the traditional strings to keep things in place when you carry it. Prices vary a lot because it’s an incredibly popular item, therefore you obviously can find cheap/practical baskets or very fine/designer sets. They usually come in sets for four people, but you can also find options for fewer/more people.

There are, of course, more modern camping alternatives, that usually tend to position themselves in the “practica” spot rather tha the posh one: backpacks with plastic cups and crokery are usually easy to fins and often come pretty cheap.

Food and drinks

You will need them. It’s not a picnic otherwise. Don’t bring anything that needs heating, ’cause it’s not camping either. Everything else just works. Pre-prepared meals, sandwiches, salads (with dressing), bread, crisps, fruit. All sorts of sizes of tupperware will surely come handy when you will need to actually put the food in some container. Napkins will prove useful too.

As for he drinks, we feel we can suggests bottle(s) of wine and plastic flutes(very easy to find). For the wine, cooling bags are clearly a must, as is a corkscrew. Some baskets provide some space for up to 3 bottles so it might be worth considering them for this feature.

Umbrellas, and clothes

Let’s face it, it might easily rain. In fact, it was literally pissing down when we went to see Ray Davies. We were in “regular” clothes, jeans, shirt, and a jumper. Gioia did have a jacket, but I didn’t. We only had one, fairly small, umbrella. Even if it’s supposed to be sunny, we suggest you consider carrying with you some waterproof clothes, and a spare pair of socks to be kept in a dry place (I personally hate wearing wet socks). All-Stars are a no-no in these cases, get some boots instead. You can get pretty decent jackets (and pants, if you want) in any outdoors store, and it’s probably worth spending some money on them, as if you get a good one it will keep everything else you’re wearing dry. Bring at least one umbrella per person, you will need it, unless you have an extremely oer-sized one.

Rubbish bags

You liked the green when you arrived there, right? Leave it as you found it. There might be stewards responsible for cleaining after campers in certain areas (there were manyat Kenwood), but that’s no reason not to be considerate.

Do you have any other suggestions? What’s your picnic gear? We’d love to hear from you!

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• Ray Davies under the rain