As the warm sunlight hits your skin and the grass beneath your feet prickles your skin, you laugh and take in the time with your friends, enjoying the perfect spring hangout: a picnic. For those who love spending time outdoors, especially as the weather heats up, these top picnic spots will be the perfect place to sit back and relax.

Legacy Park, Brambleton- 9/10

Open from dusk to dawn, Legacy Park is surrounded by several residential streets, yet maintains an open, welcoming appeal. The park stretches a few blocks and features various recreational amenities. 

As volleyball players ourselves, we were excited to find both a sand volleyball court and a grass volleyball court. A basketball court lies near one of the volleyball courts, and we passed an extensive row of tennis courts in another area of the park, with a few picnic tables clustered nearby. A dog-friendly and runner-friendly paved path winds through the trees, passing a small, picturesque pond and dotted with a few benches.

We chose to spend a little time on one of these benches with our picnic lunch and weren’t far from the path, but far enough that it didn’t feel like passersby were intruding on our conversation as they passed.

Farther down the park, we were ecstatic to find an extensive playground, whose small zipline, tire swing, and other unique play structures gave it a definite edge over your typical monkey bars and slides. Regardless of age, this playground was so engaging that we would still readily spend some time there.

Seeming to lack only a wide open space for anything like Frisbee or a game of catch, Legacy Park is a wonderful place to spend a warm afternoon with friends, with plenty to do. If you’d prefer a more relaxed outing, the trail and benches are ideal for walking and talking with a friend, or bringing a bite to enjoy at the picnic tables. 

The park is relatively condensed, but only in that all of its amenities are easily accessible by foot. Overall, it’s still spacious enough where even if it gets busy on a beautiful day, visitors won’t be crowded together. 

Clean and well-maintained, with plenty of opportunity for recreation and enjoying the outdoors, we decided that Legacy Park is an ideal location to spend a spring afternoon.

Woolsey Park, Brambleton- 6/10

According to the Woolsey Park website, this park is a medium sized, communal park located in the heart of a bustling Brambleton neighborhood featuring a larger open field space and a playground.

After a tough search for the park due to the confusing route of the neighborhood, we were met with the sight of an extremely small grass field and what looked to be an adequate playground for those of younger ages, despite seeing pictures of a park that was seemingly staged to look larger. 

Although lacking much needed space for a larger picnic, Woolsey Park has just enough room for smaller background games such as spikeball or cornhole. This park may be ideal for those within a smaller group of friends as we strongly believe that this park will not be suitable for large groups, especially on a warm, busy day.

As we were only a small group, we enjoyed the park to an extent. We found ourselves out of options for things to do as a playground with swings was our only option. The stay at Woolsey Park was short lived as we enjoyed a short meal and a few minutes of conversation. To us, the park lacked the ideal park with lots of amenities and space that we had in mind.

Our joy at Woolsey Park was short lived, and was a park we think should only be visited a few times. 

With the right group of friends and plenty of activities, this spot could 7 a.m. and closing at 8 p.m., Windmill Park features plentiful picnic tables covered by a large pavilion. In addition, you’ll want to make sure to bring your racquets as there are two large tennis courts. For the young-hearted, a large playground is available.

     As volleyball players, we were upset to not see a volleyball court among the several amenities, but were happily satisfied with the numerous, large tennis courts that we saw and a baseball diamond that was not advertised online. In addition, the park had a water fountain, situated along a large walking path, for not only yourself, but also your furry friends.

     Unfortunately, we visited on a dreary day, but the qualities to make this park pleasant were still abundant. Searching for this park was easy for us as the park is located near a recreational center, The Ashburn Farm Association, which is sadly not open to the general public, only the neighborhoods near. As advertised, this park had a windmill at the entrance, making the rest of the park easy to spot.

     Windmill Park had a great amount of space for a grassy picnic and enough tables, covered for shade. In addition, there are many large benches which all overlook the large pond which has a large fountain. This park would be great for those with larger groups as there is enough room to play your own games, play on the tennis courts or baseball diamond, and still have enough room to enjoy a meal. This park looked extremely enjoyable, and we were incredibly upset that we had visited on a rainy day. 

     Clean, and with ample walking paths, Windmill Park exceeded our expectations. Although we did not enjoy the amenities to the extent we hoped on our visit, the features and attractions of the park are guaranteed to create a happy environment for a picnic by yourself or with your friends.