Picnic Basket

The Picnic Basket is a small daytime sandwich shop tucked into The Channel Annexe just off the main shopping run in Ashbourne. It is a lunch operation rather than an evening takeaway — made-to-order baguettes, paninis, salads and a cake counter, with cajun chicken and black pudding among the baguette specials regulars single out, and a strong line in catering for gluten-free customers.

Reviews repeatedly call out the size of the baguettes — large enough that two people sometimes split one — and the value for money is unusual for a town-centre lunch stop. Reviewers describe the staff as warm and the service as fast even when the queue is out of the door at lunchtime. The shop is cash-only, which catches some first-time visitors out, and a phone-ahead collection order is the easiest way to avoid the busiest fifteen minutes around midday.

It works as a useful lunch stop for those walking the Tissington Trail from Ashbourne or shopping the Market Place, and is part of the small group of independent food operators that gives the town its lunchtime trade.