As it has been one of the hottest and driest Aprils on record what better way to spend a lazy day than having a picnic? The setting is all important so on Sunday Cindy, Joe, Rose and I went to Wakehurst Place on a recommendation (good work Zoe!). The Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew manage the property on behalf of The National Trust and the Millenium Seed Bank is also on the site. The grounds are huge, much more than we could manage to cover in a lazy afternoon so if the weather is fine you may want to take an entire day slacking in the gorgeous countryside.

Following another tip-off (Joe's dad) we requested a permit to the Loder Valley Nature Reserve. You can ask for these when you get your tickets but they only issue 50 a day as they want to keep the site fairly undisturbed.

You can gain access through a gate with the keycode they issue you with and, compared to the rest of the grounds, wander undisturbed through woodlands and meadows. Cindy and I had to turn back but Joe and Rose saw Kingfishers on their travels.

The bluebells were out in full force for that proper woodland glade look.