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...

Best hand cream in the world EVER (IMHO)

I keep meaning to tell you all - and I DO tell people on a regular basis - that this is the BEST hand cream EVER:

It's Balance Me super moisturising hand cream. Believe me, I've tried all the fancy and expensive hand creams going - L'Occitane Shea Butter, Eve Lom, Elemis Pro-Radiance, Clarins etc, plus cheaper alternatives like Body Shop Hemp, Soap & Glory, and good old Neutrogena. But this really does beat them all hands down, particularly for the following two reasons:

1. Consistency - rich, but not so rich that it doesn't absorb into your skin. And with the right ingredients to make dry hands soft within seconds, with impressively long-lasting results.
2. Fragrance - within 10 seconds of putting it on, people around you will say 'what's that gorgeous smell?' - and you can merrily say 'ME!'. It features lavender, patchouli, geranium, bergamot and yarrow, and lots more beside. It basically smells TREMAZE, and not nana-ish at all.

It's £14.50 for 100ml, and worth every penny in my opinion! You can get it from the Balance Me website, or in John Lewis and selected Waitrose stores. In fact, it's even on offer in Waitrose on occasion.

Let me know if you give it a go :)

Taste Test: Lotus caramelised biscuit spread

A long-time fan of those little individually-wrapped Lotus biscuits you get in meetings or hotels, when I found out last year they also made a Lotus biscuit-flavoured SPREAD, I was very keen to try some. However, research revealed that it was mostly only available in Belgium, and £10 shipping costs put me off investigating further.

Until the lovely Groggits tweeted that her husband had bought her some in Waitrose... it now seems to be available in this country too - so now I have a pot, hurrah!

Within 10 minutes of getting back from the supermarket, I had tried it on both bread and toast. Oh and straight from the jar ...all in the name of research of course! I think bread was my preferred option. Less time to wait than toast, possibly? :) Although yes, it tastes amazing any way you choose. It's cinnamony and sweet (so sweet my teeth almost shook!) - just like the biscuit. I bought the Smooth option, but there's a crunchy version too.

I just checked the fat content against Nutella in case I could justify eating it on a regular basis, but sadly it's 39g fat per 100g, against 31g in Nutella. Booooooo! But peanut butter is 50g fat, so it's *almost* a less fattening option?!

Do you like Lotus biscuits? Will you be trying the spreadable version? It's £2.49 for a 400g pot at Waitrose. 

New flavour Pimm's - blackberry & elderflower

Went to the Swan pub in Pangbourne last night to have a glass of wine by the river. Just too late to change my order, I spotted a bottle of Pimm's behind the bar in packaging I didn't recognise. Asked the barman what it was, and he said it was a new limited edition flavour - Blackberry & Elderflower!

A trip to Waitrose this evening has secured me a bottle - £16 for 70cl. The label blurb on the back tells me to serve it over ice with 1 part Pimm's to 2 parts lemonade. So I have :)

It's quite sweet, and the first taste comparison to spring to mind was liquid Tunes! That's not necessarily a bad thing - it does have a slightly medicinal taste, but it's still fruity and summery, and I'll happily have several glasses more once the weather starts behaving itself properly.

It won't replace a full-on jug of standard Pimm's in my book, but then not many things can. There's room in my life for this too though. Cheers!