How to plan the perfect socially distanced picnic

There’s only one thing more exciting than a socially distanced walk with a friend this weekend — a socially distanced picnic.

Meeting a pal for nibbles and tinnies in the park is the hottest way to spend the bank holiday, but don’t forget your own hummus — sharing is forbidden.

From the blanket that keeps you two metres apart to hampers you can send to a friend, this is your pandemic picnic guide.

Don’t just bring your own booze: to stay within the guidelines, you must bring your own blanket. TV presenter and London supper club queen Laura Jackson suggests upcycling old clothes to make your own picnic blanket — sewing patches together looks rustic — while Hackney design firm Paul Cocksedge Studio has released a free template for a social-distancing blanket called Here Comes The Sun. Grab an old bedsheet and make your own: the circular cloth features a cut-out centre for wrapping around a tree if you want some shade, with “seats” around the perimeter for each user to sit on.

The kindest picnics are contact-free — sharing food, drink and utensils risks passing germs to non-household members — but you can still share the love. If you’re meeting your sister for a birthday picnic, send her a hamper in advance. Fortnum & Mason’s Taste of Fortnum’s Hamper (£60, fortnumandmason.com) features a collection of the department store’s finest tea, champagne, truffles and bakes; while Perrier-Jouët and Pique’s new brunch hamper includes a bottle of champagne, hot-smoked salmon and sourdough toasts, buttermilk blueberry pancakes and dark chocolate rocky road brownies (£95, piquefood.co.uk). There’s a meat-free option for vegetarians, and champagne flutes and a picnic blanket are included.

To keep spirits high, pick your booze of choice. Forman and Field’s afternoon G&T hamper pairs scones and cakes with damson gin (£69.95, formanandfield.com); British Hamper’s Celebration Hamper includes Taittinger champagne (£250, britishhamper.com); and Darts Farm’s picnic box comes with an option to add pink English fizz (£40, dartsfarm.co.uk).

The smartest pandemic picnics are sourced within your postcode. New Covent Garden-based Oddbox delivers fresh, local but slightly misshapen fruit and veg to your door, perfect for sourcing your strawberries, and choose chutney from Lambeth-based Rubies in the Rubble, which turns surplus food into high-end pickles and relishes. Its aquafaba mayo is made from the water drained from chickpeas instead of egg.

For your drinks, Southwark-based Bubble Bros has a range of refillable Prosecco bottles that keep your fizz cooler for longer, while rosé is London’s drink of choice for socially-distanced sundowners this summer.

Sales of Waitrose rosé wine are up by 407 per cent from last year; The Magnum Company is offering magnums of rosé for delivery; and Brixton’s Salon Wine Store is offering a pick-your-own case delivery in time for the bank holiday. Order the same as your mate and do a wine tasting from your blankets.

The simplest picnic of all? Stop by your local cafe or pub offering takeaways and take your pizza and pints straight to the park. One way to ensure our locals are still open when picnics aren’t the only foodie activity allowed.

The most important part of a pandemic picnic? Cleaning up after yourself. Littering not only puts undue burden on key workers, but risks spreading germs. When it comes to leftovers, Doug McMaster, founder of the UK’s first zero-waste restaurant, Silo, has the most planet-friendly answer: a beeswax cling film for wrapping around bowls, tins and surplus foods. “It looks more like baking paper, lined with a malleable wax that sticks really well. You can reuse it for over a year, it’s natural and biodegradable.”

For reducing food waste, McMaster says it’s all about making your own cocktails. “Make some punch from whatever’s left from the picnic and whack it in a wine bottle”, or infuse your water with leftover fruit to make your own Dash Water. Your next pandemic picnic is sorted.