So cosmopolitan

I love a lot of cities that I've been to but London still remains one of my favourites, which is why I go so often! Me and Laura tend to go every six months (one trip in summer and one in winter) but we've both been so busy with our jobs and our holidays (it's a hard life) that this years summer trip has been a bit later than usual. We got to London on Saturday morning and started off at Covent Garden for some breakfast and shopping. Covent Garden just has such a charm about it; we had an opera singer and then a string quartet performing as we ate, alice in wonderland themed tea shops and flowers adorning every swing seat, window box and display area in sight. Instagram enthusiasts rejoice! Even though it wasn't especially warm, I went with a summery outfit anyway (well, it was our "summer" trip). This skirt was a recent purchase from Outfit and I love it; wildflower prints are my favourite. I wore it with cream bralet, cream cowl neck bodysuit, black lace up sandals and black leather jacket.

Then after a morning spent looking around the likes of Zara, Miss Selfridge and French Connection, we headed to Mayfair. We actually haven't been to Mayfair on any of our previous trips and I have to say that I wasn't overly impressed. Being the most expensive area of London, I hoped it would be a bit prettier but it was actually quite plain - all the luxury must be hidden on the inside instead. Which was the case with The Chesterfield, where we had the most amazing Charlie and the Chocolate Factory afternoon tea. We had a bubblegum eclair, blueberry macaron, scrumptious bar and oompa loompa cupcake among a load of other tasty treats. And even better, it was unlimited! So you could keep asking for food and drink refills for as many times as you could manage. We also had a piano player in the background (live music seemed to accidentally be the order of the day) and Willy Wonka himself even paid us a visit (although I'm sure with all the money of Mayfair, they could've found someone who did not look 18 and who was not wearing womens sunglasses).

Then we went for a couple of drinks in Soho (one came served in a paint tin, complete with a mini water pistol) while we waited to be texted the secret location of our evening activity. That's what I love about London; no matter how many times you go, you'll always find something new and quirky and exciting to do. We had signed up for tickets to a secret gin tour online and after only mildly struggling to find it, we made it there successfully (I won't give away the secret location because that's all part of the fun). The venue was all done really nicely and it did feel like you were discovering your own secret corner of London. It was under £20 and you got 3 drinks and 2 bits of food included in that; one was a welcome drinks, one was a goats cheese salad and a lemon gin cocktail and one was a negroni-style gin cocktail with a smoked duck bruschetta. All the food was amazing and the drinks were good for the most part - although I wasn't a fan of the negroni one because it was so smoky and bitter! I'm a girl who likes my fruity, sugary drinks with glitter on top so it wasn't my thing but I managed it. I didn't really know what to expect from the event; I thought the 'tour' in the name might've been more of a metaphorical thing (like taking a tour of trying different gins or something) but they actually did a literal tour of "Juniper Manor" which had a back story and lots of cool decor. It was a great bit of added theatre! There was also an artists corner where you drew each other in your favourite time period, there was games of twister on a vintage-style carpet going on, there were bath tubs instead of seats and a roulette wheel that you could buy tokens for, to complete dares and win drinks. We actually got a token each for free from the guy running it so I had to mime a magic trick and Laura had to find and recreate a painting within the building and we got free cocktails for it!

Then on to Sunday and it was another day of eating and drinking to excess! We started with bottomless brunch at Bourne & Hollingsworth Buildings which was amazing! It wasn't enough to just get one dish so we got a savoury dish each and pancakes too (both of which were incredible). I managed 6 bellinis in the hour and a half time limit too so considering it was only £17 to go bottomless, I think I got my value out of it. It was slightly colder on the Sunday so I was more suitably dressed in jeans, flower printed blouse, black leather jacket and black lace up sandals.

I feel like I'm a proper grown-up now because we spent the afternoon walking round Kew Gardens (when I was a kid, that would've been my worst nightmare). Even though it wasn't overly sunny, it was still beautiful and really interesting - the carnivorous plants and the kind you make tequila from were my personal favourites. They also had an art installation which was supposedly a comment on 'save the bees', but seeing as how it was contemporary art, it went straight over my head (it looked more like a child's climbing frame to me).

Then after briefly being caught in the rain, we ducked in to the first place we saw when we emerged from Victoria Underground Station, which just so happened to be this really cool sports bar. The bathroom was amazing! So we had a quick bite to eat (sufficiently completing the sunday food coma), before heading back to Nottingham and to reality. Until the next time London!