How To Have The Prettiest Picnic

For successful picnicking, all you need is some bread and cheese and sunshine. Oh, and our best ever picnic recipes might also come in handy. But if you want a really swanky, show-offy picnic, there's plenty of things to help you do that too. Designs that when it (inevitably) rains, you'll be happy to have hanging round your home too.

Like this stunning set of plates from Rockett St George. Decorated with a kind of old fashioned opulence, they're made for modern convenience from melamine. A set of six costs £34.

In putting together my lust list, I would have thought it unlikely that a set of plastic salad servers would be right up there. Once again Anthropologie proves me wrong, wowing me with something I never knew I wanted. This set is made from acrylic and is £24. 

Of course you'll need a way to carry your load of sausage rolls and potato salads. Step forward the new Orla Kiely melamine range which includes these storage bowls, using a gorgeous mix and match of some of her most famous patterns. At £45 a set, post-picnic season, these will definitely be getting a place in the kitchen too. You can buy them from Atomic Interiors.

Chic Parisian lifestyle store Merci has recently opened an online shop and - merci Merci - they deliver to the UK too. It's full of things that are "just so", like this set of plastic tumblers in an array of the most beautiful shades. Sized extra large, I'm thinking these tumblers are definitely destined for the vino rather than for the kiddies. A set of eight costs £10.96. 

Also from Merci is this set of Tear off napkins: take the spirit of the French cafe with you. Actually, aside from looking good, these are rather nifty. They're made from biodegradable cotton so can be washed and re-used up to six times each. You get 25 on a roll for £16.15.

I'm sure Cath Kidston must have tried to trademark the British picnic at some point - she's so good at it. While I have a bit of a love/hate relationship with the whole Kidston thing, I've fallen hard for the Luggage tag cool bag and its enticing list of destinations - anyone promoting travel to Margate and Skegness has to be alright with me. And, even better is that it's currently on sale - reduced to £18 - leaving you plenty of change for fizzy pop, ginger beer and adventures across the UK.