Five free things to see and do in London

We've just returned from another summer trip to the British capital, seeing some of the sights that we didn't manage to fit in last year. Although London is a vibrant and exciting place to visit, this can come with a hefty price tag; it's a city with a reputation for being stonkingly expensive, whether you're a hapless holidaymaker or a bona fide Londoner. But it doesn't need to be - having conducted extensive research, I've compiled a list of my top five things to do in London which don't need to set you back a single penny.

1. Browse at Borough Market - Admittedly, you'll need some serious willpower here; if you have as little self-discipline as me, you're likely to come away clutching a bunch of artisan goodies and an empty purse. It is, though, perfectly possible to enjoy the market's sights, sounds and smells for nothing. Many stallholders offer free samples of their wares - particularly if you ask nicely - such as honey, breads, oils and sweets, so that you can try before you buy. My absolute favourites have to be The Cinnamon Tree Bakery, who I first encountered last year at The Cake and Bake Show, and Bread Ahead, whose doughnuts are out of this world. To really make the most of the market, head to Borough High Street on a Friday or Saturday, when traders set up early and go home late.

Nearest underground station: London Bridge.

2. Visit the Imperial War Museum - One thing that pleases me immensely, as I've always been a bit of a history nerd, is that wherever you go in Britain, the museums are, more often than not, free. The Imperial War Museum is one such institution, and has been on our list for a while. It's only just reopened after undergoing massive transformation, including the construction of a state-of-the-art sunken atrium and brand-new terraces, and looks absolutely stunning - the entrance hall alone houses a Spitfire, a V2 rocket, a Harrier jet, and a T-34 tank, among other over-sized artefacts. Upstairs, the Family in Wartime follows the lives of a local family during the Second World War, while the refurbished Holocaust exhibition documents the rise of Nazism and its appalling culmination. It makes for sombre viewing, but is an absolute must-see.

Nearest underground station: Lambeth North or Elephant and Castle.

3. Take a Thames-side walk - If you want to see some of the main London attractions, but don't fancy shelling out for a bus tour, a great way to see the city is to walk along the banks of the Thames. Following the Thames footpath, you can take in such sights as the Shard, Southbank, the London Eye, and even - if you're not completely out of puff - the Houses of Parliament. One not to miss is the Tower of London, currently home to 'Blood Swept Lands and Seas of Red', the installation of ceramic poppies commemorating the centenary of the outbreak of war in 1914. It's possible to walk from Tower Bridge right up to Westminster (though you might need frequent breathers!), but you'll have to cross the river at various points. This, though, is a good excuse to see - and set foot on - some of the city's famous bridges, like London Bridge, Westminster Bridge, and, for Harry Potter fans, the Millennium Bridge. Thankfully, in real life, it's still standing.

Nearest underground station: you can begin wherever you like, but I recommend starting from Tower Hill and heading west.

4. Wander through Regent's Park - despite being such a huge city, London has green spaces in abundance. I think that Regent's Park is one of the prettiest - even on a thundery day like the one pictured above! It's a pleasant mix of open grassy areas, perfect for little ones to run around and let off steam, and landscaped gardens, complete with manicured flowerbeds and fountains. There are a handful of places to eat within the park, including cafes, a restaurant and the Smokehouse, a barbecue takeaway, but make an afternoon of it by bringing your own snacks and eating al fresco - though perhaps hold out for better weather before you unfurl your picnic blanket!

Nearest underground station - Baker Street, Regent's Park, or Great Portland Street.

5. Take in the Tate Modern - if contemporary art is your thing, you definitely won't want to miss this off your itinerary. Although it's one of London's premier tourist attractions, entry is free, unless, as with most museums and galleries, you want to visit one of the special exhibitions, which are on throughout the year (Henri Matisse's cutouts are currently on show, as are works by Kazimir Malevich, created during one of the most turbulent periods of Russian history). However, with so much to see inside the old Bankside Power Station, a trip to the Tate Modern can be just as absorbing without seeing one of these, with free guided tours every day. You'll also find free displays on various themes, like 'Poetry and Dream', within which are mini-displays such as 'Beyond Surrealism' or 'Energy and Process', featuring Cy Twombly among others.

Nearest underground station: Southwark or Blackfriars

If you've enjoyed a free or budget day out in London recently and want to shout about it, or if there's anything at all you'd like to see featured on my blog, feel free to leave a comment below!

In praise of... the sandwich cake

As I'm back home from uni for the summer and I no longer have any problematic sharing-a-tiny-kitchen-with-housemates-type problems, I've started baking again. It's been quite a while since I last wrote a post for the cake 'n' bake section of the blog, but my most recent kitchen escapades have provided me with some inspiration: in the form of the humble sandwich cake.

What I love most about this cake is that it's infinitely customisable; above, you can see that I've tried out a few different flavour combinations. Some of my favourites include coffee, chocolate, or a traditional Victoria sandwich with strawberry jam. You can mix things up further by adding an extra sponge layer, or even topping off your creation with a meringue and an icing drizzle.

Today, though, for the second time in a fortnight, I've made a lemon curd sandwich cake. For this variation, I used my standard sandwich sponge mix, which consists of 8oz butter, sugar and flour and four eggs - you can scale this up and down to your heart's content, to make bigger and smaller cakes. To this, I added the grated zest of two lemons.

If you fancy creating a chocolate version, you can substitute 2oz flour for 2oz cocoa powder, and for a coffee-infused cake, add a tablespoon of instant coffee to the mix.

Because lemon is probably my favourite cake flavour, I added an extra zestiness to one half of the cake with some citrus curd. I used this lemon and lime curd from Devon-based Hogs Bottom Garden Delights, which is absolutely delicious - highly recommended!

To counter the sharpness of the lemon and avoid a citrus overload, I spread the second half with vanilla butter cream. My fail-safe butter cream method is use twice as much icing sugar as butter; for the lemon sandwich, I used 4oz of icing sugar to 2oz butter.

Spread your chosen fillings over your two cakes - jam and butter cream work perfectly together, as does a combination of butter cream flavours, such as chocolate and vanilla. And with summer coming up and Wimbledon around the corner, you could create a luxurious sandwich of fresh strawberries and whipped cream.

All that's left to do is quickly and carefully sandwich the two halves of your sponge together. I'd recommend lifting them both off the cooling rack to do this, rather than dropping one half from a great height onto the other!

And there you have it: a complete sandwich cake. They're easy to bake and they're even easier to personalise. Once you find your favourite combination of flavours and fillings, this will definitely be your go-to sponge. And if it takes you a while to find the perfect match, I'm certain that you'll enjoy trying and tasting.

Procrastination, apple strudel and Ultravox

Joy unbounded, exam season is upon us once again. I've already had three and have five more to come, so I ought to be chained to my desk in a frantic flurry of revision. Hence I'm writing this blog post.

To be fair, I've done three Russian practice papers today, so I'm not feeling too guilty. (Also, it's unlikely but possible that uni teachers may see this, so we'd better at least look busy).

Anyway, some of you might know already that I took a jaunt to Austria during the Easter holidays with some lovely pals at the University's German Society, and over the last few days as the enormity of end-of-year exams has hit me, I've been pining for the clear blue skies and gargantuan ice cream sundaes of Vienna. So here are a select few of the 328 pictures I took over the course of our three-day stay (yes, really).

Our first excursion of the trip was to Schönbrunn Palace, one of the Austrian Imperial Family's summer homes. The palace and its grounds are absolutely beautiful, and enormous; the estate is home to Vienna's Tiergarten, where I saw actual, real-life pandas for the very first time! Inside the palace itself, we saw such exciting things as Schönbrunn's answer to the Versailles Hall of Mirrors and Franz Josef I's deathbead. 

Here's Schönbrunn from the famous Gloriette, with the city of Vienna beyond. As you can see, we were blessed with some beautiful weather for at least the first part of our trip.

A view over Vienna and the mountains in the distance from Tiergarten Schönbrunn. In 2012, it was voted Best European Zoo, and it's easy to see why. Everything is very clean and well-kept, and there's more than enough to keep you occupied for a day; we spent the afternoon there, having explored the palace in the morning, and didn't manage to see everything, so I'll definitely be back for a second visit at some point!

As I've already said, there were some exciting animals that I hadn't seen in the flesh before, like the afore-mentioned pandas. Unfortunately I didn't manage to get a good picture of one, because it turns out that they eat bamboo at such a ferocious speed that every photo I took of them was blurry.

Inside the Monkey House at Tiergarten Schönbrunn. A lot of the original baroque buildings at the zoo are still standing - the Kaiserpavillon, below, and the Biedermaier Giraffe House were completed in 1757,  remain in use today, although they've been through many different guises since then. Of course, the animal houses have been thoroughly modernised, and it was fascinating to see how the old has been incorporated into the new; in spite of its age, the Tiergarten does feel very modern and up-to-date.

The Kaiserpavillon at Schönbrunn. It was originally built for the Imperial Family to entertain their guests, and it's now a rather posh tearoom, where I enjoyed sitting on the terrace with a Wiener Melange.

A rear view of Schloss Schönbrunn from its grounds (this is the last picture of it, I promise).

An U-Bahn platform at Westbahnhof. I'm very proud that I managed to successfully use the underground every day when we went into the centre of Vienna. Probably the most exciting part of this education in subterranean transport was making our friend, the Accordion Man, who boarded a train with us at Rathaus with a little red trolley, out of which came his accordion. To make things even more awkward, because as you can imagine, everybody's trying to avoid making eye contact with everyone else while A.M. is blissfully unaware of the hilarity he's caused, each time he received a bit of change, he'd play said accordion faster and faster.

Being serenaded once on the tube was quite amusing in itself, but after telling everybody back at the hostel about the performance earlier that afternoon, we got on the tube to go back into town for dinner and what should we see in front of us getting into a carriage but a little red trolley! Apparently our faces were a picture when we were trapped with him on a rush-hour train for the second time that day, but it made for some funny memories.

As well as a more amusing breed of busker, Vienna is home to such fine specimens of authentic Wiener Apfelstrudel as this one above. I think I had perhaps three rounds of strudel during the trip and this, in a small restaurant down a sidestreet in the city centre, was probably the best.

The second full day in Vienna and another palace (here we go again, I hear you sigh) - this time it's Belvedere, another of the Kaiser's summer homes. It's now an art gallery, home to Gustav Klimt's 'The Kiss', prints of which can be bought on tea towels, mugs, umbrellas and fridge magnets in any souvenir shop within a mile radius.

You've been spared a plethora of photos from inside, because we weren't allowed to take our cameras in. It's a shame, because you're missing out on a particularly dashing portrait of Napoleon, who's been made to look like a Heathcliff/Rochester hybrid. Not complaining.

(NB: boyfriend wants you to know that he finds the concept of fancying a portrait of Napoleon utterly ridiculous).

Walking through the gardens from Oberes Belvedere (or the huge, grand Upper Palace) to Unteres Belvedere (the slightly more modest Lower Palace). Belvedere is right in the middle of the city, so it's surrounded on all sides by ordinary buildings and offices etc, but the gardens still feel very tranquil and calm.

Unteres or Lower Belvedere. This is where the modern art lives, being looked after by the nicest cloakroom attendant I met on the whole trip: praise indeed. The 'Vienna-Berlin' exhibition was on while we were visiting (and runs until June 15th this year, so you've still got time to catch it if you happen to be in Vienna soon). 'The Art of Two Cities' showcases some of the most important 20th Century artworks of the German-speaking world, and is well worth a visit to see pieces by the likes of Conrad Felixmüller and Hannah Höch.

Naschmarkt, Vienna's most famous food market. Boyf. and I met everyone here for lunch after Belvedere, and there were some good deals and excellent vegetable noodles to be had in the narrow, meandering alleys. Just don't point out that a few of the traders are trying to rip off unsuspecting foreigners, because you'll be pursued through several stalls with indignant shouts of "TOURRRRRRRISTEN!" ringing in your ears.

Horses and carriages outside the cathedral, Stephansdom, perhaps for a richer and more refined type of tourist than us.

Looking down a narrow sidestreet near the Mozartshaus, just off Stephansplatz, in the first picture. The second shows a stark contrast between tiny sidestreets like this and the huge open squares: old and new showcased side by side in Stephansplatz, the heart of Vienna.

For a capital city, particularly one with the historical and cultural importance of Vienna, I thought it was a very relaxed place. Of course it was busy, but in the sense that there were a lot of people, rather than that we felt rushed or hassled. It's a vibrant, lively place, but we never once felt unsafe.

Inside the stunning Stephansdom. Visiting this and the square outside was definitely one of the highlights of the trip, so much so that I had to come back for a quick visit before we returned home.

It's also one of a number of things you can do in Vienna for free (although it costs a little to walk down the central knave, but you can go inside the cathedral to see the beautiful ceiling and stone carvings without paying a cent). Visiting the parks and the Rathaus, or the city hall, are other free activities. The city hall doubles up as the tourist information centre, and you're perfectly able to explore the halls and courtyards as you wish.

Outside the entrance to the Hofburg, yet another palace, this time in the very centre of the city. It houses the world-famous Spanish Riding School and a vast array of different museums, including Sisi's Museum, named after the Kaiserin Elisabeth, the longest-reigning Austrian monarch, who was on the throne for forty-four years.

The style of the place felt similar to Horse Guards Parade, with its inner courtyard reached through archways, although the Hofburg has two. On the other side of the palace, though, you emerge onto the Ringstraße, one of the main roads in the centre of Vienna, around which are situated lots of the most famous and beautiful tourist attractions, like the Kunsthistorisches Museum (the Art History museum), the Rathaus and the Parliament buildings.

The Kaiser's state apartments inside the Hofburg: we spent a leisurely hour out here in the courtyard having ice cream and yet more coffee. At home in Angleterre, I basically chain-drink tea and I'm sorry to say that, in lieu of PG Tips, I tried to do the same thing with coffee in Austria. It was a steep learning curve.

As an aside, do go and get an ice cream sundae from the little Hofburg cafe, they really are beautiful.

Waiting to go into Hotel Sacher for our Sachertorte! If you're going to Vienna, this chocolate cake is on the list of food and drink that you absolutely must try, along with probably Wiener Schnitzel, Kaiserschmarrn and Apfelstrudel. Actually, I've still not ticked Kaiserschmarrn off my list, so I'll definitely have to do that when I return to Wien (as it's definitely a case of 'when', not 'if').

In spite of my self-proclaimed vegetarianism, I must confess that I did actually have meat on all three of our nights in Austria. Before you shout at me, in my defence, it is pretty hard to be completely veggie in Germany and Austria. A couple of our group managed it, with boyf (no, I'm not allowed to say his name on the internet) opting for some unusual-looking 'eggy dumplings' on the second night. But I went all-out Viennese and had Schnitzel on the nights either side of Sausage Night, which really was a sight to behold.

The Sachertorte was worth every cent, by the way.

Graben, in central Vienna. This is where a lot of the posh shops live - Gucci, Prada and Dior were all nearby, as well as Cartier, the Queen's favourite jeweller. Sadly, by the time I'd got here, I had spent most of my holiday money so I didn't get my diamond tiara this time. The beautiful gold monument on the left is called the Pestsäule, or Plague Column.

A view over Vienna from the famous Ferris wheel at Wiener Prater, a permanent fairground to the east of the city. 

And there's the wheel itself, the Wiener Riesenrad, which is over a century old and famously starred in 'The Third Man' with Orson Welles. It was also built by an engineer from Devon, so ten points to us. (Sadly, it was North Devon, but I won't tell if you don't.)

Another lovely, shiny U-Bahn station, complete with fairground-themed mural. We couldn't believe how clean everything was - that was actually the thing that most impressed my grandparents when they had to sit through a forty-five minute slideshow of all my snaps. Apparently even a cathedral and a few palaces aren't as exciting as a well-polished station floor.

In all seriousness, though, the entire city centre is so well maintained; everything was clean and shiny, or in the process of being made so, like the Stephansdom, which looked to be undergoing a major spring cleaning operation. It's quite a rare thing, I think, to go to a city that's such a major tourist destination and come away thinking how well looked-after it looks. I think I could live here quite happily, and I don't say that easily about big urban centres.

Even higher up than the Prater wheel this time! This is from the viewing platform on the Donauturm, or the TV tower. We visited its revolving cafe and enjoyed ice cream and coffee at a lofty 529 ft. Proud girlfriend moment: boyfriend buying the tickets to go up the tower, plus asking for the bill in the cafe, both entirely in German, despite being a self-confessed monoglot. It did take twenty minutes to get our head around 'Entschuldigen Sie...', but we got there! The big plus is that he's been inspired to buy a German book to learn some more for when he visits me in Tübingen next year.

Looking up through the bars towards the exciting revolving bits of the Donauturm. It was only up here on our last day that I eventually gave in to all 80s new wave-related urges and decided to have a chorus of  'IT MEANS NOTHING TO MEEEE' atop the tower. (Link for your viewing pleasure).

A view of the UN buildings from the Donauturm viewing platform. The tower itself is set in this beautiful green park, in which we spotted Luke Skywalker and the Emperor, or at least their lookalikes, all dressed up and taking a Friday afternoon stroll.

As you do in Vienna, natürlich.

If you're interested in taking your own trip to Austria's capital, and I really do recommend it, there's loads of tourist information here. We were busy everyday and saw so many exciting and interesting things, but  there's so much more that we just didn't have time to do - but we'll have lots to entertain ourselves with on our next visit, hopefully in the not-too-distant future.

I've accidentally become a vegetarian

Yes, really. Since moving into our student house in September, my boyfriend and I have become predominantly vegetarian. As we were in the uni's catered halls last year, it's the first time that we've had to fend for ourselves food-wise, and Oli's made several attempts to go meat-less before now. But, at least during term-time, so as not to inflict our new and self-inflicted dietary restrictions on parents at home, he (and I) finally managed it. 

It happened for a couple of reasons - for one thing, going veggie can be better for you than eating a diet that includes meat (provided, of course, that you make sure you're getting lots of protein and all of the other essential bits and bobs). Secondly, because we're students, a near-constant concern for us is money, or lack thereof. Vegetarian food, as it turns out, seems to be a lot cheaper to make than meaty meals; even when we do a dreaded Big Shop, we're not spending as much as we would be if we had to buy enough mince, chicken or other assorted animals to last us for a week.

So, with a student budget and the corresponding cooking skills in mind, here are a few of our favourite cheap-'n'-easy things to eat...

Veggie burgers with homemade potato wedges - I'm kicking off with a super-easy one; basically, this  requires you to be able to take a box of veggie burgers out of the freezer, open it and bung them into a pre-heated oven. This is a meal I'd make if I'm heading out of an evening, because, once you've thrown everything in to cook, you can leave it be while you do your make-up, get changed etc. Don't worry about peeling the potatoes, just chop them into nice chunky wedges, coat in vegetable oil and cook at 200°C for about 40 minutes. Nice things to add to your burgers include rocket, salsa and a generous/Hayley-sized helping of cheese.

Vegetable pasta bake - if, like us, you have an abundance of tinned tomato soup in your cupboards, this is a good recipe to use some up - at the last count, we had at least twenty cans of it! You can use any veg you fancy. We usually go for peppers and courgettes, but I made this for my parents last night and added a lot of mushrooms, of which my Dad is a fan. It's a really easy dish to make, although it takes a bit of time to prepare, so having a chopping partner helps.

Traditional nut roast - if, like me, you're a part-time veggie who craves traditional roast dinners, this nut roast is a good way to go. Even if you are meat eaters, it can make a good substitute for stuffing. Nuts are quite expensive things, so we don't make this dish too often, but it's always a nice treat at the end of a particularly long and busy week. Add onion, breadcrumbs and mixed herbs to the nuts while they're cooking in the pan, then crisp up in the oven. All you need then are potatoes, green veg and a good glug of gravy!

Vegetarian chilli pie - this is a great Friday night dinner, especially if you're having a lounging-around-with-a-DVD sort of evening. Cook your favourite Quorn or bean chilli recipe (we've tried so many different ones that it's impossible to keep track), then pour into a casserole dish and top with nachos and another generous helping of cheese. To finish, pop it into the oven for the cheese to melt.

If you'd like to have a go at veggie food, but you're on a tight budget and you're not sure where to start, I recommend Vegetarian Nosh for Students by the wonderful Joy May, also the creator of the original Nosh for Students cookbook, from which some of our dishes are adapted. 

If you do have a go at any of our favourites, I'd love to hear how you got on and what you thought of them. Maybe you'll 'accidentally' become a vegetarian too...

Where I've been spending my student loan this week...

Let me begin this post with an apology - I'm very sorry for having neglected my blog recently. I've been somewhat inundated with uni work and other commitments, such as volunteering and some very exciting meetings and I also turned 20 on Wednesday, which is terrifying but quite exciting. But, while I've not had much time to put a post together until now, I did have some time to do a few hours of shopping! 

Since coming to Exeter, I've found that it's fantastic for independent, local shopping, some of the best of which can be found on Fore Street and in McCoy's Arcade, which happens to be where Crikey It's Vintage and Good Golly Miss Molly share a shop. Crikey's fairs are probably what sparked my interested in vintage and retro, so I was excited to go to their shop for an open evening last Wednesday; especially since there would be Mrs Gill's Country Cakes on sale and a 15% discount in-store!

As well as Crikey's vintage stock, there were plenty of Miss Molly's beautiful handmade pieces; essentially, it's a gift shop, with gorgeous greetings cards (such as the painted bird ones above) and hundreds of ideas for Christmas and birthday presents - speaking of which, I found my sister a lovely pair of earrings for her 16th birthday, and I will definitely be back for stocking fillers come December. 

Among my favourites were the ceramic bunting pieces, a quirky twist on quite a long-standing trend. I really liked that there were letters and decorative tiles to mix and match, so you could collect lots to create room decorations or select a couple to perhaps wear on a cord as a chunky necklace.

There were lots of pieces in which vintage and handmade were intermingled in a sort of reinvention of old items, which I thought was really clever and produced some very pretty results. The covers of old Ladybird books, such as those above from 'What to Look For In Autumn/Winter' were framed and made into these unusual pictures - they're the sort of thing that I'd love to have to decorate my post-uni home, when I eventually come to that. Unfortunately student landlords don't take kindly to heaps of things on the walls, so I'm going to have to wait for my Ladybird prints for a while! 

These necklaces are made with old international stamps, which are laminated or reinforced so as to be suitable for everyday wear, and the hoops make ideal frames for these amazingly detailed pieces of embroidery.

For some reason, whether it was being back at uni or the lovely cosy colours and themes in the shop, I was feeling very autumnal and excited about impending birthdays and Christmas. I love searching for and buying presents for people and the Crikey/Miss Molly shop is completely perfect for that - I know it's a cliché but there looked to be something for everyone on offer, whether it was jewellery, decorative items for around the house, vintage kitchenwear and crockery or simply a pretty card to send a note to a friend. 

While we were visiting McCoy's Arcade, we spotted No Guts No Glory directly opposite. There is some exciting news about this shop, actually, as it's soon moving into its new home and celebrating its fourth birthday - from November 2nd, you'll be able to find it at 137 Fore Street. Don't miss out on the NGNG birthday celebrations!

And seeing as you have your diaries open, you ought to jot down the date of the next Crikey It's Vintage fair and evening do at the Thistle Hotel on Queen Street on November 16th!

Now, you might think that that would be enough vintageing for most people, but the eagle-eyed among you will have spotted a flyer for the Crikey Goes To Exeter Uni event in one of the pictures above. Basically, the lovely Crikey people and dozens of their vintage friends move into the foyer in Devonshire House at the University of Exeter for a mini version of the Thistle Hotel event, and it just so happened that the next fair was the day after I had been to Good Golly Miss Molly's shop for the open evening.

As usual, there was a great range of homeware, clothes, accessories and gifts and the perfect balance between vintage and retro handmade. Hangar 124 provided plenty of vintage and antique pieces, including a helmet which was used in the filming of Band of Brothers, while stalls like Little Nutkins and Tomorrow Looks Vintage, By Jones provided upcycled and vintage-style trinkets. In fact, I bought myself a lovely scarf from Little Nutkins as an early birthday present - it's beautiful and I'm very happy with it, so thank you!

Kitsch Attic's stall caught my eye because of its vibrant colours and intricate stencils, like the Alice In Wonderland ones on these beautiful handpainted chairs above. I liked how pretty details like the running fox transfers were added to usable, everyday objects like Kilner jars to make them that little bit more exciting.

For bookworms, the Penguin lampshade would be a lovely addition to any reading room or lounge and woodland animal prints are very on-trend, particularly on cushions and other fabrics for the home.

Tomorrow Looks Vintage are the owners of a Dorset-based warehouse of vintage and retro products, so they had come a little further afield to Exeter for a change of scene. I spotted a teacup candle on their stall which was similar to the ones I made a while ago. I actually received the exciting news a couple of weeks ago that my candles are going to be in a feature in the festive issue of home and lifestyle magazine Pretty Nostalgic, as part of an article on budget or homemade Christmas gifts. The editor sent round a PDF of the article in progress and it looks stunning, so I can't wait to share it with you and get some festive gift ideas myself!

The Vintage Ladies 1957 from Exeter's The Vintage Trading Company were on hand with plenty of vintage fashion and clothes, which seemed to prove very popular with the students - it was great to see the fair looking so busy and I'm really pleased that the university seems to be so full of vintage fans and such a diverse melting pot of different retro-inspired styles. Hopefully that bodes well for future Crikey events at Devonshire House, which will be held throughout the rest of the academic year. Do look out for flyers on campus!

Last but by no means least, the Farmers' Market returned to Streatham Campus in its regular Friday slot, for students and staff to stock up on locally grown, produced and cooked goodies. I was particularly excited to see that Shaldon Bakery was represented, as well as their famous Uglibuns, which are delicious, if a little funny-looking, as the name might suggest...

Local businesses The Wholesome Hog from Duckaller Farm in Dawlish and Blueberry Bros were also represented, providing fresh food on the go. This was, for me, the best part about the market; I think that lots of the students there were pleased to have so many new and exciting places to grab something to eat on campus. Streatham is a brilliant campus for food and is full of different lunch-type outlets, but who could turn down a local, and more importantly affordable, hog roast or a hot pot of Spanish casserole? It was definitely a much-appreciated treat for hungry, sometimes cash-strapped students.

The Westcountry Deli provided a little taste of the upmarket with a range of olives and other Mediterranean-inspired delicacies, although I thought that their range of honey and marmalade looked most appetising, as well as some very pretty mortars and pestles and other wooden carved kitchen utensils.

The old pick 'n' mix is a failsafe way to draw students in - really, we are big children and love fizzy fish and strawberry laces as much as the next person, so it wasn't surprising that there was quite a queue around the sweets stall when I wandered past!

And finally, cakes - it wouldn't be a properly Hayley blog post without mention of cake somewhere along the line! Truly Treats brought a vast array of baked goods to campus, including a raspberry ripple cake, all manner of cupcakes and an amazing Belgian chocolate cake that came out of its box just as I was leaving - though I managed to snap it quickly! I think raspberry ripple is a flavour that I ought to try, especially as I received lots of fab baking bits for my birthday. 

So, as you can see, both the uni campus and Exeter as a whole are great places for independent shopping; buying treats for yourself feels infinitely better when you know that your hard-earned student loan is going back into the local economy and supporting small businesses.

But big business doesn't necessarily mean it's bad; next week,I'll be heading towards the High Street, as I've been invited to attend the flagship store celebrations at Oasis in Princesshay - and seeing as they take the form of a vintage tea party, I just couldn't refuse!

(: xx