A Guide to Seaside Picnics and Local Produce

Start at the bakery, not the supermarket

A seaside picnic rises or falls on the bread. Buy it on the morning you go, from whichever bakery is nearest the front, and buy a whole unsliced loaf — a sourdough, a bloomer, a focaccia slab, or a bag of soft baps if you are feeding children who distrust crusts. Sliced supermarket bread goes clammy in a warm cool bag by noon, whereas a proper crust keeps its structure and gives you something to tear and dip.

Ask for it unsliced and pack a bread knife in a tea towel. Wrap the loaf in the tea towel first, then in a paper bag, and put it at the top of the bag so it is not crushed by flasks. If the bakery sells yesterday's loaves, take one — it is perfect for toasting later or for tearing into chunks for cheese. Add something savoury while you are there: a pasty, a sausage roll, a couple of cheese straws. These travel far better than sandwiches and save you assembling anything on a windy beach.

Build the plate around regional cheese

Buy cheese close to where you are sitting. Every stretch of coastline has something within an hour's drive, and a farm shop or deli counter will usually let you taste before you commit. Take the cheese out of the fridge an hour before you leave — cold cheese tastes of nothing.

• Cornwall and the far south-west: Cornish Yarg, wrapped in nettles, which is mild enough for children and interesting enough for adults, plus a hard mature cheddar for slicing.
• Dorset and the south coast: Dorset Blue Vinny, crumbly and sharp, best spread on a plain biscuit or a slice of apple.
• Gloucestershire and the Severn side: a washed-rind cheese with real punch, kept in a sealed container or it will scent the whole rucksack.
• The north-east and Scotland: a mature Isle of Mull cheddar, or a crumbly Lancashire if you are further south, both of which slice neatly on a grassy bank.

Add a pot of sea-salted butter, a jar of chutney or piccalilli, and a handful of oatcakes. Bring a small knife and a board, and cut the cheese on the board rather than in your hand. A cool bag with a frozen water bottle at the bottom will hold everything at a sensible temperature for four or five hours.

Fruit, salads and something homemade

Choose fruit that survives a journey and does not need peeling. Apples, pears, grapes, cherries and plums all travel well; bananas bruise, soften everything around them and attract wasps. Wash fruit at home and dry it properly — wet fruit in a warm bag turns quickly. A whole watermelon is a wonderful thing if you have a car and a knife, and a terrible thing if you are walking two miles.

Salads work if you keep the dressing separate. Cold new potatoes with chives, or tomatoes with basil and a little olive oil in a screw-top jar, are ideal. Anything with mayonnaise should sit in the coolest part of the bag and be eaten first.

For the homemade element, flapjack is the seaside standard: it survives heat, travels flat and improves with sand-free fingers. Shortbread, brownies cut into squares, lemon drizzle sliced thinly, or a small pork pie all work. Bring a flask of tea for the adults and a bottle of cordial for everyone else — a hot drink on a cool beach in May is worth more than any pudding.

The kit that makes it work

• A cool bag with two frozen water bottles, which double as cold drinks later.
• A large tea towel, a bread knife, a small sharp knife and a chopping board.
• Lidded containers for everything, because open bowls and coastal wind do not mix.
• Enamel mugs or plastic cups, and a flask.
• A windbreak, a groundsheet, and a blanket with a waterproof backing.
• Two bin bags — one for rubbish, one for anything wet or sandy.
• Sun cream, hats, hand sanitiser, and a small first-aid kit including plasters.

Weigh down the corners of your blanket with bags or shoes. On a shingle beach, sit on something thick; a groundsheet alone will not save your hips. If anyone in the party has stiff knees, a folding stool is a small luxury that pays for itself.

Choosing a sheltered spot

Sea breezes build through the morning and are usually strongest between midday and late afternoon, so an early picnic is often calmer than a midday one. Check the wind direction before you leave and sit on the leeward side of something: a headland, a sea wall, a row of beach huts, or a dune ridge. West-facing beaches hold the afternoon sun; east-facing beaches are warmer in the morning and cooler after lunch.

Check the tide table before you settle. Never unpack below the high-water mark, never sit directly beneath a crumbling cliff, and keep clear of the base of any wall with visible cracks. A metre of dry sand in front of you is not a guarantee of anything two hours later.

Gulls, litter and leaving it clean

Gulls are boldest where people have fed them, which means near chip shops, bins and the busiest stretch of promenade. Sit a good few metres from any flock, keep food in containers rather than open hands, and never leave a bag unzipped. If a gull takes something, let it go — chasing it never ends well. Do not feed them, however entertaining it looks.

Take every crumb home. Many beaches ban barbecues and fires outright, and local byelaws on dogs, glass and ball games vary from one council to the next, so read the sign at the entrance rather than assuming. Do not bury waste in the sand; it comes back up. Tip sand out of containers at the beach, not in your kitchen, and rinse the cool bag when you get home so it does not smell of cheese for the rest of the summer.