wysiwyg - I like the idea of picnic dinners, makes me wish we were in a position to do that. Hopefully school traffic does not add too much to your drive. Down here is make a huge difference to the drive, which really did surprise me.
I have been told makes a massive difference, also been told that nearly every day there is an accident on the West Gate making the journey horrendous, but quite a few people do the similar trip so I think some of those statements about accidents etc are exaggerations! Because we don't have a garden just a small balcony staying out for a picnic dinner is really nice - I guess if we had a garden it might be different, the kids do love wandering though, and they have a long list of things in the neighbourhood they like to check out (a cat called Tuppenance, Cranes, Foundations, a postbox with a hand on it to shake, etc. etc.)