The best countryside dates are cheap, short and give you something to do with your hands. These fourteen all pass that test.
The pub is fine. It is just that everybody goes there first, and sitting opposite a stranger with a drink is the hardest version of a first meeting there is. Anything where you are both facing the same direction works better.
These are sorted roughly by effort, from the ones you could do this Sunday to the ones worth saving for a third or fourth date.
Flat, signposted, usually a car park and a café, and almost always busy enough to feel easy. Two to four miles is the sweet spot.
It is the most reliable first date in the country and almost nobody suggests it.
You get an hour, a reason to walk slowly, samples to talk about and an obvious end when you run out of stalls. It also costs about four pounds.
Good for anyone nervous, because there is always something to look at.
This is the best wet weather backup there is and people underrate it badly. Warm, dry, endlessly wanderable, and there is always tea at the end.
Bonus points if one of you actually needs something.
Cheap, funny, and you learn a lot about somebody from what they pick up. Set a budget of a fiver each and see who does better.
Best before ten in the morning, which also suits anyone who is up early anyway.
A full day if you want it, an hour if you do not. Livestock, machinery, food tents, terrier racing and enough going on that a quiet patch in the conversation never matters.
Check the date, buy in advance, and agree beforehand how long you are staying.
Pick a stretch with a car park at each end and a bus back, or just do an out and back. The sea does most of the conversational work.
Wind is the enemy here. Check the forecast properly and have the café picked out.
Underrated and perfect for early risers, which in the countryside is most people. Out for six, back by eight, breakfast somewhere that opens early.
It also means the whole day is still ahead of you either way.
Paths, benches, a café, a plant sale and a clear route round. If either of you is already a member it costs nothing.
Works in almost any weather and suits anyone who does not fancy a proper walk.
If one of you keeps horses, this is a real look at the other person’s life rather than a performance. It is also a genuine test of whether they are comfortable around animals.
Only offer it if you would be relaxed with them there. It is a step up in trust, not a first meeting.
Blackberries in late summer, sloes in October, wild garlic in spring. Free, seasonal and it gives you both a job.
Take a book or an app, only pick what you are certain of, and stick to public paths.
Not a first date and not something to talk anyone into. But for two people who already swim, an early morning dip and a flask afterwards is hard to beat.
Go somewhere with other swimmers, never alone, and know how you are getting out before you get in.
Buy the ingredients together, go back and cook them. It turns a two hour date into a five hour one without either of you having to be entertaining the whole time.
Save it for a third or fourth meeting, at one of your places, once you know each other.
A proper walk with a destination. Something in the two to five hour range with a clear top, so there is a point where you both stop and it feels like an achievement.
Tell someone your route, take a paper map as well as the phone, and check the weather on the hill rather than in the valley.
Fencing, a beach clean, a village hall thing, a hedge laying day, lambing if you are both mad enough. Doing actual work next to somebody tells you more in four hours than four dates would.
This is a late one, not an early one, and nobody should feel roped in.
If you want to stop reading and just pick one: the reservoir loop, the Saturday farmers market, or the garden centre if it is raining. All three are cheap, short, public and easy to leave.
Whatever you choose, keep the first one under an hour, meet there rather than getting picked up, and tell a friend where you are going. Our guide to planning a first date outdoors has the full version.
A reservoir or lake loop, a Saturday farmers market, or a car boot sale. All three cost under a fiver, take about an hour, and give you something to do rather than sitting opposite each other.
A garden centre, a farm shop, a National Trust house or a museum in the nearest market town. Agree the backup at the same time you agree the walk, so nobody is deciding in a wet car park.
It works well from the second or third meeting. There is enough going on that quiet patches do not matter, but a full day is a lot for a first meeting, so agree in advance how long you are staying.
Once you have met a few times and you would be relaxed with them there. A yard visit or cooking at home is a step up in trust, not a first date.
How to plan the day, and who you might plan it with.
