.png)
How To Posh Up Your Picnic
- Jo Aspin
- 7 days ago
- 4 min read
Updated: 2 days ago
Time to give your picnicking an upgrade? Plastic cutlery and paper cups just won’t do for 2025. Peruse our 2025 finds to give your al fresco adventures an upgrade this summer. See you in the park!
Celia B X East London Parasol Company – for chic shade
For ultimate shade and Instagram wow factor in equal measures – you need a parasol to perch under. We love this collaboration between designer Celia B and East London Parasol Company. Each parasol is covered in bright and beautiful printed patterns, which have been hand drawn by Celia Bernardo. The colourful tassels, carved wood and gilding are all intricately created and threaded by hand, made by around 20 artisans in India.
Peninsula Round Bamboo Parasol Ceia B X East London Parasol Company
£450 / 2 metre canopy
Della Vite & Glassette Aperitivo Set – for picnic glamour
Too posh to pack your own picnic? Pick up a Della Vite & Glassette Aperitivo Set for sublime picnicking without the hassle.
The prosecco brand created by the Delevingne sisters (Chloe, Poppy and Cara) is a collaboration with a third-generation wine-making family, whose winery is based within the Prosecco region of Valdobbiadene, Northern Italy.
Both their white DOCG, and rosé have been tried and tested by the Chatting Food team.
The Della Vite X Glassette Aperitivo Set includes: a Bohemia woven reed basket, a pair of G by Glassette Coupes, a Della Vite bottle cooling jacket, customised to keep your DV cold for up to 3 hours, a jar of the Pickle Project sweet dill pickle chips, Crunchy Bonilla crisps, Toreras olives and a bottle of your choice of Della Vite: white DOCG, Rosé, or Zero and a bottle stopper.
The Della Vite X Glassette Aperitivo Set is £93- £100
Ottolenghi Pantry Range - for the picnic cheat
Jazz up your homemade picnic offering with this new range from Ottolenghi which is now in Waitrose and Ottolenghi stores. The ready-made sauces and marinades include Calabrian Chilli & Tomato Pesto – perfect for your pasta salad, Hawaij Paste (pronounced ha-WAY-ij) – infused with cardamom, cinnamon and cloves; rub on your meat before you BBQ, and Preserved Lemon Marinade – brilliant for chicken and fish. Arrive with your dishes looking like something Nigela Lawson just knocked together. We won’t tell!
Waitrose stores nationwide, waitrose.com, and ottolenghi.co.uk
Denbies Wine - for posh fizz!
British sparkling wine is now in abundance with countless vineyards popping up in the sunnier southern counties of the UK. Denbies Wine Estate in Dorking is an independent estate producing a whopping one million bottles of wine a year. The Surrey Hills are a particularly good region for growing wine due to their chalky soils and sheltered climate, offering conditions, similar to those found in the Champagne region of France. For those interested, you can visit and tour the vineyards, try their wines and stay for a spot of lunch or dinner in one of their four restaurants. Their Denbies Summer Whitedowns Brut is an absolute steal at just £19.95 a bottle. We'll drink to that!
Soda Stream Fizz & Go – for pepping up your hydration - Editor's Pick
SodaStream has launched a ‘fizz & go’ Stainless Steel carbonating bottle. Carbonate your water with your SodaStream machine and then mix in your favourite flavour from ranges including official Pepsi Max to 7Up, Lipton ice tea or Cloudy Lemonade. The fizz and go range comes in three tones, ‘Storm’, fresh ‘Mint Green’ and ‘Sand’ and will keep your drink full of fizz for around 12 hours. Our household is new to the SodaStream brand and the kids have spent hours of fun fizzing up their water and then mixing in flavours cloudy lemonade and zero sugar orange and mango. Winner!
£24.99 from Sodastream
Villa Maria - Snazzy wine in a can
Skip the warm fizz and go straight for wine in a can. Villa Maria unveils its award-winning Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc in sleek 200ml cans this summer. The 200ml cans of New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc are perfect for picnics without the need for packing glasses or trying to keep your wine in the shade. The warmer Wairau Valley vineyards produce heady aromatics reminiscent of grapefruit and tropical fruit flavours.
Sainsburys, Morrisons and Tesco, RRP £3.75 each.
Punchy - don't forget to hydrate
Daytime drinking can start out like a lot of fun but if you don't remember to keep hydrated you could end up like this - Ali Woods Comedy. Luckily it's Punchy to the rescue. This range will quench your thirst and hydrate all in one. The lightly sparkling drinks are packed with electrolytes, minerals and vitamins and come in flavours Mexican Lime, Mango, and our favourite - Blueberry. They also have tropical and citrus hydration sachets which you can mix into water.
£22 for a 12-pack
Features Editor, Chatting Food: Jo Aspin
Jo Aspin is a freelance writer specialising in UK restaurants, travel, food and drink. She is also a Director at hospitality PR agency Amy Williams Consultancy, based in London.
Follow Jo at:
Instagram: @welovechilli
댓글