Tourism in a picnic basket

The grand tour continues until the hamper’s full, the final destination’s reached, and the picnic begins.

Picnic enterprise has put local food producers on the map.

Adesire to create a tourist experience for Bridgetown has led Jenny Mountford and business partner Trudy Clothier to an enterprise that combines local food suppliers, a quiz, and the area’s natural environment into a gourmet outdoor dining experience.

Secret Picnic Adventures was inspired by a similar venture that Mrs Mountford thought was a good idea done badly.

Tourists pick up an empty picnic basket from the Visitor Centre and click on a QR code that gives them a clue to their first destination, and the first of the goodies for the picnic basket.

From there it’s another clue and another destination, with that picnic basket slowly filling.

The business started modestly in Bridgetown two years ago just with paper clues, followed by a website.

Today it’s expanded to two Bridgetown picnics, and it’s taking in Pemberton, Manjimup, and Nannup, while Collie and Donnybrook are coming soon.

“Because it works in Bridgetown, we thought this could work in any small town,” Mrs Mountford said. There’s a bit of town history on the walk, or drive, through the area, and the response has been excellent, even through winter, Mrs Mountford said.

“We do get a lot of tourists through here in the winter,” she added.

Tourism WA has got onboard and funded the website and the project going digital.

It’s putting local food producers on the map and boosting their sales, while also promoting their websites.

“It’s just another way of getting people into all those food places that they might not always go to if they’re here visiting, and in between the stops … we have a lot of interesting information about the town, some history, some points of interest as they’re walking past,” she said.

The next picnic will be a high-end truffle-based affair tailored to seasonal produce.