OUTDOOR eating hits its zenith during the English summer season when, en fête, we dine en plein air. At great houses, on riverbanks and at the races we picnic, never to be outdone, never retreating from the elements and always prepared. It is possible to ‘dine in’ or collect a ready-to-go picnic at the smartest occasions these days. Ascot has expanded its offering this year with a new dining area for Royal Enclosure badge holders inside Car Park Number 1 called The Saddling Club, and Glyndebourne has added Mildmay, where you can have two courses in an hour. But in truth, anything other than BYO on these occasions is rather infra dig. So limber up your buttering arm and, for God’s sake, don’t forget to pack the bottle opener and baby wipes, which are excellent for getting sauce splodges out of your best bib and tucker.
ROYAL ASCOT, 20-24 JUNE
The Royal meeting at Ascot is the picnic Olympics. For this is a blue-riband and blue-blooded affair and one cannot start preparations too early (it takes decades to acquire a coveted spot in Car Park Number 1, although spaces can now be used by family and friends too). Enclosure badge holders who haven’t made it yet can have a jolly time in Car Park Number 7, with picnicking taking on a great range of styles here, from picnic blankets on the ground to picnic tables and folding chairs as well as a few small gazebo tents, which have been known to lift off when the wind gets up.
Bu hikaye The Field dergisinin June 2023 sayısından alınmıştır.
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Bu hikaye The Field dergisinin June 2023 sayısından alınmıştır.
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Rory Stewart - The former Cabinet minister and hit podcast host talks to Alec Marsh about the parlous state of British politics, land management and his deep love of the countryside
The gently spoken 51-year-old former Conservative Cabinet minister is a countryman at heart. That's clear: he even changes into a tweed waistcoat for the interview, which takes place at his London home and begins with a question about his precise career status. Having resigned from the Commons and the Conservative Party in 2019, the former diplomat and soldier has reinvented himself, first with an unconventional but promising run as an independent for the London mayoralty (abandoned because of COVID19 in 2020) and then as a media figure, co-hosting one of the country's most popular podcasts, The Rest Is Politics, alongside Alastair Campbell, the former Labour spin doctor.
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