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Blue skies and belated blogging

You may or may not have noticed that I've been taking something of a blogging hiatus since the New Year. Returning to university, exams and general hecticness have meant that I've not been able to do much in the way of writing blog posts, not to mention the weather - the UK's biblical storms have not exactly been conducive to my ramblings, as they've meant that I haven't been able to get out and about to take nice pictures of anything. 

However, this once-in-a-century/eight-in-two-months freak weather has got me reminiscing about the lovely weather that we had by chance when we visited St Ives, Cornwall, just after Christmas. By then, some of the country was already underwater and further destruction was already forecast, but somehow the far western tip of Britain managed to escape it for the most part. 

Taking advantage of a mid-winter deal, we booked to stay at Tregenna Castle, a beautiful hotel with views over the town and the Atlantic Ocean. Here are some of my favourite pictures from our brilliant mini-break - hopefully we'll be back in St Ives very soon.

Just a quickie - winter in Wells

It's almost December and I'm so excited about Christmas! A mountain of uni work and other deadlines meant that recently I've had barely any time for blogging, but Oli and I managed to take a couple of days off last weekend and visit his grandparents in Wells.

Strangely, although it was November and we had last visited Somerset in July, the weather behaved itself and was much better for most of this trip. We were lucky enough to have the very best sort of winter weather: clear and sunny, but absolutely freezing! After arriving on Friday evening, we decided to take a stroll around the tiny city, which in fact is England's smallest. Our first stop was Cathedral Green, where I spotted the above house and immediately decided that I must live there. It's also home, as one might expect, to Wells Cathedral, featured on a recent BBC documentary.

Oli's grandparents caught up with us in the market, which runs every Wednesday and Saturday outside the town hall. We browsed the local produce and potential Christmas gifts, then headed through the Bishop's Eye - as peculiar as that sounds, fear not, as it is actually one of a pair of medieval gateways, the other being Penniless Porch, where people are permitted to busk - to the Bishop's Palace.

Though the trees had by now shed their leaves, I think that the bare branches are still strangely beautiful, particularly set against a bright blue winter sky. The Palace grounds are one of my favourite places to visit when we go to Wells and I've actually never been inside the buildings. This may have a little something to do with us being tight students, but I like to just wander around the garden and the moat outside.

The moat surrounds the Palace's outer walls and is now just a decorative feature - I'm sure that the Bishop of Bath and Wells is very pleased to hear that he's no longer under any great threat as he goes about his business - and is home to such specimen of British wildlife as the giant swan. This swan and her friends make up the Swans Of Wells, a public art project to celebrate the Queen's Diamond Jubilee in 2012. 

The next time we visit Wells will probably be in the New Year now. There's so much to do between now and then, but luckily I managed to get some Christmas shopping done over the weekend, particularly at the Clarks Village in nearby Street.

In any case, I had a fabulous weekend and there are only two weeks of term left before the Christmas holidays. I'll be back soon with new posts about Princesshay's shopping events and more festive fun!

Afternoon tea and winter style at Princesshay's Oasis

Last week I was very kindly invited to a bloggers' event at Exeter's Oasis store in Princesshay, to celebrate its new flagship status - and what better way to do so than with a vintage-style tea party? After having a wander around the shopping centre (and popping up to the Debenham's café, where I took the above picture, for a precursory cuppa), I made my way over to the shop just in time for Prosecco and scones.

As a bit of a twist, though, champagne was served instead of tea in pretty china teacups, accompanying plates of fruit scones with jam and cream. Somewhat inevitably, this sparked the 'jam and cream vs. cream and jam' debate, although, as I come from a family with roots on both sides of the Tamar, this was a pretty tame exchange by comparison!

Miss-matching saucers and wildflowers in glass jars completed the look - like Oasis' style itself, the overall appearance was smart, but with a retro edge. With vintage crockery so in vogue at the moment, I liked that the store's staff had done something a little different by making this a very informal, drop-in kind of event, while still retaining the elegance of an old-fashioned tea party.

In terms of the new lines of clothes instore for autumn, my favourites were among the many knitted sweaters, chunky coats and cosy smaller knits, like hats and scarves. Knitwear is, as far as I'm concerned, one thing of which you just can't have too much - I've been wearing my woolly winter jumpers almost constantly since getting back to uni, although the weather is only just beginning to warrant it! 

I loved the range of different styles of knit that Oasis offered; I think that my particular favourite was a cream sweater with embroidered hearts and a black silky collar. It's much more elegant, though a bit thinner than a lot of winterwear and it's probably best to layer it up with scarves or jackets in really cold weather, but I liked its pretty details and slim fit.

The winter season holds plenty of opportunities for posh parties: Christmas dos, New Year's gatherings and - what's that? - even a masquerade ball at Deer Park in January (languages students, watch this space...) But the Oasis collections showed that you don't need to compromise on style just because of wintry weather.

The on-trend pieces this autumn seem to be either leather or lace, though rarely together, as both are such strong styles on their own. Leather jackets are a timeless classic, both comfy and stylish, something that is important to me now that I'm approaching old age. But lace-embellished blazers and leather pinafore dresses offered some new and attractive takes on older styles.

Although many pieces from the new collections were dark - black, navy blue and varying shades of grey seem popular - and in keeping with a more wintry palette, there were pops of colour throughout the store.

The variety of different prints caught my eye first. I like a nice polka dot as much as the next woman, but the nature-inspired designs seemed much more sophisticated and also reflected a more autumnal tone. Updating a plain, casual shirt with a pretty print makes it both smart for work and stylish for evenings

Diamante accessories are, or so I'm reliably informed, a must-have for Autumn/Winter 2013. As seen at this season's Ralph Lauren and Gucci shows, a chunky necklace, bracelet or brooch can add sparkle and interest to any winter ensemble.

What caught my eye in particular was the chiffon ribbon necklace, seen on the left and right of the photo above in two different colours; I like the contrast between the hard lines of the gems and softness of the fabric.

Metallic shades for accessories were also popular; the elasticated cuff-style bracelet above is simple but chunky enough to add interest to an outfit, say, a plain shirt-dress or suchlike. I liked the dark silver clutch bag, with its almost Art Deco style, because, although it carries the strong, metallic trend, it also has a very soft look about it. It's not too harsh or difficult a style to pull off and somebody like me, who knows next to nothing about fashion, would feel comfortable using it.

That's the main aspect of Oasis' lines that struck me. Although I'm not a fashionable person, and I find even Topshop intimidating, I know what kind of style I like and I thought that almost everything in the store was very wearable. That's not to say it was boring at all! Everything had a very classic and high-quality look about it, making it extremely accessible to the uninitiated in fashion. 

In keeping with the afore-mentioned time-honoured styles, accessories such as bags and shoes were mostly of classic leather and suede. Real leather especially is a really versatile material and it only gets better with age; while suede is a little more delicate, I think it's a great look for pumps or boots like the heeled ones above.

I even surprised myself by liking the leopard print pumps in the top picture! There were little swatches of it on many items around the store and I have to say that, when it's not too big, bold or in-your-face, I do really like this pattern, provided, of course, that it's faux. In the 'Cosy' section towards the back of the store, there were cute fluffy leopard print hot water bottles, as part of the 'It's the Little Things' range, which would make perfect stocking fillers.

Thank you to the staff at Oasis for putting on this event - it was lovely to have a good look around the store and, of course, to have a scone and some champagne! Hopefully I'll be able to meet some more bloggers at the other Princesshay events this year.

Keep your eyes peeled for some festive-themed blog posts and events in the not-too-distant future!