A Perfect Picnic

I absolutely love sunny weather. Give me a nice day and something to do and I'm a happy gal. Unfortunately, living in Ireland means that's a rarity. Trudging around the place in wellies and a raincoat is a more likely situation, but that's not my style.

Miraculously, it's been such gorgeous weather here over the past week or so. I've been non-stop busy; between doing my final exams (woop!) and driving - I'm finally insured on my boyfriend's car - as well as helping him move out of his student accommodation, it's nice to take some time out to relax. 

On my mum's recommendation we drove out to Derreen Woods (otherwise known as Bluebell Woods - you'll see why later on in the post) in Boyle. It's a short drive from where my boyfriend lives so it seemed like the perfect spot for a picnic.

I love picnics, they're one of my favourite things to do. Call me boring or old fashioned but I'd much rather go for a nice picnic than go out clubbing all night! I spent a while scrolling through some recipe websites looking for some tasty food ideas. In the end we decided on sandwiches (we recently won some Moodley Manor vegetarian burgers, bacon and sausages) cocktail 'sausages', fruit salad, pasta salad and some homemade juice.

I put on my newly acquired Topshop collared shirt from the charity shop, a dungaree skirt and a floppy hat and we set to making our feast and packed it all into the picnic basket my mum gave me. I'd love one of those really snazzy picnic baskets with the picnicware included but alas, priorities. We drove out to the woods with the windows down and the sun streaming through the windows.

The woods are absolutely gorgeous this time of year. Bluebells are abundant in the woods, and they're such a sight for sore eyes. We even saw an orchid growing in amongst all the flowers! I didn't even know orchids grew over here.

We eventually reached a clearing where we decided to set up our picnic - in the shade as I'm whiter than a ghost and forgot to pack sunscreen! We spread out our blanket and arranged our food into bowls and dishes. So many people walked past and commented on how lovely our spread looked - and a few cheeky dogs came over looking hopeful before being pulled away by their owners. 

It was such a treat to sit back and relax whilst chatting and enjoying some gorgeous food with my love. We enjoyed veggie BLT sandwiches, veggie cocktail sausages, pasta salad, Alpro yoghurts, fruit salad, chocolate dipped strawberries and some homemade carrot, orange and ginger juice. We were well and truly stuffed by the end of our picnic! Then came the arduous task of taking some pictures for the blog. It was such a laugh trying to get a good shot of us both lying on the picnic blanket - there were a few not-so-flattering shots in which I looked like a dying whale but you can't win them all!

I wanted a shot of me sitting amongst the bluebells and Laurence stood in as second in command photographer, usually it's my mum who takes pics of me. We spent a while trying to get the perfect picture, and when we did experimented with some more poses. I have to say, Laurence has got quite the eye for photography - he's a Jack of all trades! Considering we were only using my phone to take the pictures I was quite pleased with the outcome.

We had such a perfect day it seemed a shame to leave the tranquility of the woods, but all good things must come to an end. I just hope the weather improves again so we can get up to more adventures! Hope you enjoyed this blog post - and the tidbit of good weather.