A Lovely London Day!

Last week I headed to London on the 9.21am train rather than the 7.22am. My destination was not my office desk on Tavistock Square, but the delights of Oxford St and Soho. Every now and then I like to take a day off and spend it with my Mum in the city. We always look forward to it for weeks, and we always have a great time! I've created a quick and visual post about our day in London which I hope you will take tips and inspiration from!

Unsure of the weather I layered up with my favourite French Connection shirt dress, H&M Beige Woollen coat, M&S Red midi heels for a dash of colour and my favourite Marc Jacobs bag.

First we headed to the delights of Dolly's, a beautiful little tea and cake parlour in the basement of Selfridges. We always head here, and it is such a lovely treat for a morning stop off, or for afternoon tea. We had lattes (mine a soya) and fresh baked scones with jam. It is a great spot for people watching!

This is the beautiful dress which I picked up in Cath Kidston in Selfridges. I had a voucher from a Christmas award that I won at work, and knew I wanted to save it for a special piece rather than blowing it in the make up hall... This cute Brighton themed dress is something I have had my eye on since the SS catalogue came out, and I think it will be my favourite sun dress this year. It is also guaranteed to remind me of home when I make the big move to the city as I have spent many a happy family day on the Brighton pier.  I will definitely be styling this up later in the Spring! Thanks work!

I am definitely a bit of a tea fiend, and this stunning tea pot and loose tea section opposite Dolly's in Selfridges always catches my eye! Unfortunately Twining's is about as far as my budget can stretch but it is like a cutesy museum for tea lovers and well worth a browse!

After a brief stop off in Clarks (and 3 fabulous pairs of shoes later... more on those at some other time), we headed to Carnaby Street where I treated my lovely Mummy to a Shellac manicure at the Benefit salon for Mother's Day. She opted for a classic red and I chose a dark blue- typical us! I was desperate to show her the salon after I had such a great time there before, and so I am really glad that she liked it!

We also dropped into Liberty's for a browse around the scarf hall. It is a bit pricey in there, but definitely gives me lots of inspiration to take to H&M or Mango to buy inexpensive styles which are similar to the beautiful Hermes and Christopher Kane ones in Liberty's. It is a great store to browse at Xmas too, with its top floor being transformed into an emporium filled with stunning glad baubles and unusual decorations!

 Choccywoccydoodah in Soho is a fabulous place to stop off for a quick look. There is a lovely little café upstairs, but they also have a store on the ground floor offering anything from quirky chocolollypops to full on chocolate wedding cakes. They are honestly complete works of art and if you are in the area I would insist that you had a quick peek.

 En-route to our final (and perhaps favourite) destination, I made sure that I took Mum into the Hummingbird Bakery on Wardour Street. As the best baker I know, Mum takes lots of recipes and inspiration from the Hummingbird Bakery- her signature vanilla cupcake recipe comes from here and so a quick post-mani treat was well received! Mum had a classic vanilla cupcake (just to check what she is competing against!) and I had a chocolate and peanut butter whoopee pie- the most delicious albeit filling cake that I have ever enjoyed! Hummingbird is a fabulous Soho stop off and its fame is not reflected in the price, two coffees and two cakes will cash in around £10-£12.

I hope you got a few tips from this, and I would love to hear about your London hotspots!

Lauren