A visit to the Mulberry Factory Shop at Shepton Mallet

Yesterday, I happened to be cruising the country lanes of Dorset and Somerset, when I remembered there was a much fabled Mulberry Factory Shop in not-too-far-away Shepton Mallet, full of discounted and bargainous Mulberry bags, shoes, clothes and accessories. It was only right that I paid it a visit to see if anything needed buying...

The shop is in a converted infants' school dating from 1900, and has a large open-plan layout inside. The main part of the interior is devoted to women's clothes, shoes and handbags, with a men's leather goods section leading through to a coffee shop and women's sale items area.

Browsing the rails, there were loads of really beautiful and classic items to choose from - leather jackets (more on this topic below!), smart trousers, raincoats, cute dresses, soft tshirts, dainty skirts - all typically discounted by several hundred pounds from the full price tag, e.g. this midnight blue tshirt with sewn-on plastic stars seen here on the right - £79 reduced from £250.

Various different bag styles and sizes were in stock - including the Alexa, Bayswater, Effie, Evelina and Tillie - in a range of really nice muted colours and leather finishes, but also a few vibrant tones and more unusual materials too, such as a stunning and unusual 'red onion' (burgundy to you and me!) haircalf quilted Bayswater which was reduced by over £1,000. 

The most popular bags in the most popular colours were about £200 cheaper than their full RRP, so it's really worth a visit if you're after a Mulberry bag but can't quite / don't want to stretch to the full price latest style in the latest colour or material.

I happened to try on a studded leather jacket just to see how it fitted - as it was a 10, I wasn't actually expecting it to fit but it seems it did, and it somehow left the shop with me - whoops! It was discounted by £1,050 which in my book makes it a veritable bargain (well, almost...).

I've been looking for a classic biker jacket with a twist for a while, and this really ticked all the boxes. The quality of the leather, cut and finishing is far superior to other jackets I've been looking at costing not that much less than what I paid for this. So I'm happy. (Credit card less so, possibly...)

Here's a closer look at the jacket - black leather with black crystal and silver studs on the front, with quilted sleeve bottoms, pewter metal studs on the epaulettes, and zipped pockets. Quite the beaut!

Mulberry Willow bag - how gorgeous?!

I did ask one of the sales assistants if they ever get any Mulberry Willow bags in at discount prices, but sadly the answer was no - they've been flying off the shelves at full price retail stores since they were introduced at the start of this year - boo!

I'll just have to carry on stroking them lovingly every time I pass through Selfridges instead...