UK Knife Law Question (Experienced Knowledge Please)?

This is such a difficult thing to answer because technically if you have your knife anywhere that the public go, then you are committing an offence but even if I buy myself a carving knife to take home to my kitchen I will still have it in public, I would expect and hope that if a policeman was to ask about why you have the knife you would be able to convince him that you have a genuine reason to have it, I would have thought that if you had the knife securely wrapped up so that it was not immediately to hand then that would be considered safe enough, it is a shame that the thugs that carry knives ruin the enjoyment of people that have the sort of hobby or lifestyle that you do, a phone call to a police station should give you more information.