In pictures: Street parties and picnics

Hundreds of thousands of people have bust out the bunting for The Big Lunch, an event organised by the Eden Project in Cornwall, shown here, to encourage community bonding at street parties and picnics.

Even the Chancellor of the Exchequer Alistair Darling entered into the neighbourly spirit by hosting a lunch at 10 Downing Street in Westminster. Parties were held up and down the country.

A local Thai woman delicately and skilfully sculpted this message on a melon as part of a table decoration for a Big Lunch party in London's Bellenden Street, South Camberwell.

BBC News online reader Lucy Nicholls sent us this scene beneath a row of umbrellas in Taunton, Somerset. The Big Lunch organisers say our neighbours are the biggest untapped source of happiness we possess.

Ian and Caroline Jones organised this bash in Truro, Cornwall with music, competitions and "more food than we could eat". Organisers hoped to see the largest number of street parties since the 1977 Silver Jubilee.

BBC News online reader Angela Williams sent us this very British scene of a street party in Bristol. Big picnics were held in London's Regent's Park, Roundhay Park in Leeds and Glasgow's Kelvingrove Park.