Here’s a great way of getting outside this week as it is National Picnic Week. The event runs from today until the 22nd, aiming to provide people with an ideal opportunity to get together with friends and family over a picnic. Picnicking is one of the UK’s most enjoyable summer traditions, and is a great way of taking advantage of any open space in your local area, or as part of your annual break.

This is the event’s tenth anniversary in celebrating this country’s enjoyment of eating outside, when the weather’s right of course. In the last few years we have seen the country make great strides in its preferences when it comes to eating, with foods from all over the world finding a home here, and the advent of home grown specialities has never been more prevalent. We have become a nation of ‘foodies’, just take a look at the TV schedules.  Gone are the days of the simple cheese ‘buttie’ on the beach, unwrapping the foil to find all the filling at one end, or finding more of the beach present than the filling you prepared.

As well as giving you ideas for locations and recipes to use the week gives various industries within the food and drink sector the chance to get together to discuss issues affecting them, tourism, staycations, the horsemeat scandal have all been looked at in recent years.

But for most of us it is a chance to get out and enjoy ourselves, so plan a picnic, and even if the weather doesn’t want to play, why not have a picnic indoors, sit on the floor and relax. But if you do get the chance to get outside why not look at the list of fifteen favourite picnic spots that have been chosen across the country. Why not let us know if you agree or suggest your favourite, you can even send us a picture of you enjoying yourself.

So get buttering that bread, pack that pate safely, and don’t forget that British weather, so as well as the food and drink you take it just might be worth packing a waterproof too, you know it makes sense.