Pattycakes’ birthday picnic at Garvey Park
Last month, we celebrated Jac’s mum Pattycakes’ birthday with a picnic at Garvey Park, Ascot. It was a warm sunny day and a lovely spot to have a picnic. I hadn’t been there before; Jac has a number of times, picnicking with friends and to watch the Avon Descent (see Garvey Park details at the end of this post).
Jac made a batch of savoury eggs, which many of you guys know as “deviled eggs”.
Jac loves to have an excuse to use this special savoury egg container which holds twenty egg-halves. I’ve often thought it strange they didn’t make it to hold 24 egg-halves (12 whole eggs) – wouldn’t it make sense to make it hold a dozen eggs since they are generally sold in dozens, not tens? :)
Jac also made a potato salad. Gotta have potato salad at a picnic! This one had finely chopped celery and capsicum in it for extra crunch.
She packed a container of sliced tomato, cucumber, lettuce, swiss and cheddar cheeses, salami and ham.
She bought a barbecue chicken from the supermarket. A barbecue chook is an essential item at our picnics. Of course, I’m always ready to pounce on the dark meat (thigh, drumstick).
At Garvey Park, we managed to grab a sheltered picnic bench that was free, overlooking the water. We spread our party tablecloth on it and unpacked our lunch.
So here’s my plate. A bit of salad, cold meat, cheese, chicken, cheese and a buttered fresh bread roll. We brought both white and wholemeal bread rolls.
After we’d eaten our fill of the picnic main course and tidied up, it was time to eat some fresh fruit courtesy of Jac’s sister-in-law Kelsie. We had strawberries and pineapple…
Nice big juicy slices of seedless watermelon…
And honeydew melon and rockmelon (some of you know this as cantaloupe). When it comes to melon, I only like watermelon. I’ve tried to like honeydew (the name of which SOUNDS like something I would like) and rockmelon but they just don’t appeal to me.
We also took a moment to sing Happy Birthday to Pattycakes, then enjoyed slabs of muddy chocolate cake. It was rich and moist and the kind that sticks to your teeth and the roof of your mouth when you eat it – yum!
After lunch, Max went to play with the other kids in the playground (we watched with amusement from a distance as he and a couple of other little boys proceeded to pour sand down each other’s shirts. They were all quite happy doing this so none of us intervened :)).
I took photographs of our surroundings. This seagull kept strutting about and posing. He looked very happy to be out and about on this lovely sunny day.
We saw lots of boats cruising along the river, including this Captain Cook Cruise boat. A couple of boats carried mum, dad, kids and the very happy family dog, tail wagging.
Lots of people in kayaks too. You can do kayaking beginners classes along the river near Garvey Park – my workmates C and J have done the course. Jac is keen to do it sometime.
I followed this lone duck as it swam along the river.
And as we walked around the park, a very important sign. It looked like most people done as instructed – we saw lots of dogs but no rogue poo around the park.
Garvey Park
Fauntleroy Avenue, Ascot
A few sheltered benches for picnics – but get in quick for those. Lots of grass to spread a picnic rug on. Barbecues and toilets available. Go for a walk or ride your bike. A nice big playground in a sandpit for the kids. Plenty of parking.