Choosing Your Spot and Setting the Scene

An afternoon tea in the garden asks very little of you and gives a great deal back, provided you choose the right patch of grass. Aim for somewhere with dappled shade rather than full sun, ideally under a mature apple tree or beside a hedge that has already dried out after the morning dew. Sunlight is lovely at four o'clock in the afternoon; it is considerably less lovely on a plate of buttered bread.

Walk the ground an hour before your guests arrive. Move a bench if it wobbles, check for wasp nests in the eaves of the shed, and look at where the shadows fall at the time you actually plan to eat. A table set on a slight slope will send teacups sliding; a table under a sycamore in June will gather a fine rain of sap. If the grass is long, mow it the day before and let it settle overnight.

Have a wet-weather plan that does not feel like a defeat. A gazebo, a covered porch or simply shifting everything into the kitchen with the back door open will all do. Nobody has ever minded.

Laying a Table That Invites Help

The point of a relaxed tea is that you are not waiting on people. Set everything out in a way that lets guests serve themselves without asking where the milk is, or apologising for reaching across anyone.

• Put a stack of side plates at one end and the teapot at the other, so the table naturally forms a queue.
• Stand cutlery upright in a jug, handles up, and fold napkins under a small stone or pebble to stop the breeze taking them.
• Use a mix of china. Mismatched cups look generous rather than careless, and it means a chipped saucer does not matter.
• Keep a small tray for the teapot with a milk jug, a strainer and a pot of hot water for topping up.
• Set a lidded cool box on the ground within reach for clotted cream, butter and anything with salmon in it.

Linen or good cotton is worth the ironing. A cloth that moves slightly in the wind is one of the quiet pleasures of eating outdoors.

Simple Sandwiches, Made Properly

Three fillings is plenty, and all of them should be unfussy. The trick is in the construction rather than the shopping list.

Butter the bread before anything else goes near it, right to the edges, as this is what stops a cucumber sandwich turning into a damp disappointment. For cucumber, slice it thinly, salt it for ten minutes and pat it dry. Add a little chopped dill. For smoked salmon, use cream cheese loosened with lemon juice and a few capers. For egg mayonnaise, grate the egg rather than chopping it, bind with just enough mayonnaise, and fold in snipped chives. A fourth, if you have ham, is good ham with a thin smear of English mustard.

Cut the crusts off if you are feeling traditional, then cut each sandwich into fingers. Make them in the morning, layer under a barely damp tea towel, then cling film and refrigerate. Bring them out half an hour before serving so the butter softens.

Warm Scones, Straight from the Oven

A cold scone is a sad thing, and a warm one will be remembered longer than anything else on the table. Rub 55g of cold butter into 225g of self-raising flour with a teaspoon of baking powder and a pinch of salt until it looks like coarse breadcrumbs. Stir in 150ml of buttermilk, or milk with a squeeze of lemon left to sit for five minutes.

Bring it together with a knife, turn out onto a floured surface, and handle it as little as you possibly can. Pat to about 3cm thick, cut straight down with a floured cutter, and do not twist. Bake at 200°C fan for ten to twelve minutes until risen and golden. Have a second batch ready to go into the oven as the first is eaten.

Serve with clotted cream and strawberry jam and say nothing about the order. Guests from Devon and Cornwall will settle it between themselves, and the argument is half the entertainment.

The Teapot Is the Heart of It

Loose-leaf tea is worth the small extra effort. A good English breakfast blend or an Assam suits scones and sandwiches; a Darjeeling second flush, lighter and more floral, is lovely as a second pot later on.

• Warm the pot first with a splash of boiling water, swirl and tip away.
• Use one rounded teaspoon per person, plus one for the pot.
• Pour water that has just gone off the boil, not a rolling torrent.
• Brew for three to four minutes, then strain into cups or decant into a second warm pot.

Offer a jug of milk and a dish of lemon slices, and a pot of fresh mint or lemon verbena tea for anyone avoiding caffeine. Keep a flask of hot water nearby so nobody has to go indoors mid-conversation.

Hosting So That You Can Sit Down

Do the work in the morning and then let go of it. Ice the jugs, fill the sugar bowl, stack everything on a tray and leave it by the back door. When guests arrive, carry it out once.

Resist the urge to hover. Let people pour their own tea, help themselves to a second scone and carry their plates to the kitchen when they are done. Put a basket at the end of the table for used crockery so nothing blows about the lawn. If a wasp becomes a nuisance, set a small dish of jam well away from the table rather than chasing it with a cloth.

Then sit down yourself, cup in hand, with your back to the sun. The washing up will still be there at six o'clock, and the afternoon will not.