You’ll Soon Be Able to Picnic On the Grounds of Buckingham Palace

For the first time ever, Queen Elizabeth II is allowing the public to come picnic on the grounds of Buckingham Palace. Though the palace gardens open to the public annually for three months each summer, this is the first time visitors will be allowed to bring a meal, hang out, and enjoy the scenery for an extended period of time.

Visitors to the palace grounds are welcome to partake in a self-guided tour of the 42 acres of the garden (3.5 acres of which are lake), and/or a guided tour of the Rose Garden, wildflower meadow, and summer house, all of which are located on the southwest portion of the property. The gardens officially open up on July 9 and will remain open to the public through Sept. 19, however, visitors can also currently book weekend guided tours in April and May.

The gardens at Buckingham Palace are famous for housing over 1,000 trees and 320 different wildflowers and grasses. The lake’s island is home to a collection of beehives, and there are non-native, rare plants and flowers rarely seen in London speckled throughout the gardens.

Picnicking will be allowed between the July-to-September timeline, and tickets will need to be purchased ahead of packing up your picnic basket. Tickets for the garden experience start at £16.50 ($22.62), with discount prices offered to the disabled, the elderly, students, and children. Children under five years old can attend the garden experience for free.

Queen Elizabeth usually hosts three annual garden parties per year to celebrate the hard work of volunteers, public sector workers, and more, however, both last year’s and this coming summer’s events have been called off due to the ongoing pandemic. So, opening the gardens up to be enjoyed by the public in a new and safe way makes the cancellation easier to cope with.

And hey, just the thought of eating cheese and sipping wine with Buckingham Palace in the background seems like an incredible way to spend a sunny afternoon.