You think we look pretty good together.

Laura Ashley trench coat (old). Topshop print top: £24 (old). Vintage suede skirt: £8, charity shop. Bally bag: £9, vintage shop. Warehouse lace up flats: £29. Esie Belle necklace: £9.

There's just something about Oxford, isn't there? The city of dreaming spires is one that I don't visit all that frequently, but every trip leaves me feeling a little more relaxed and in love with this country. It may have its own tube (hoho), but this city is all about retaining its heritage and tradition, which comes as a nice break from fast-paced London's silicon roundabout, coremetrics, edialog and UAT. Of course, it did manage to tip it down for roughly 90% of our trip meaning that country air had a hint of raindrop to it (say hello to Yankee candle's new copywriter??), but in a ten minute break we managed to take advantage of smaller than usual crowds beneath the bridge of sighs. Oxford may be a far cry from Venice, but the eponymous (chicken? egg? Wiki'll tell you who came first, I'm sure) architecture is still pretty bloody beautiful, and it's almost enough to make me wish I'd tried a liiittle bit harder whilst revising for my A Levels and make it here to study full time.

As a hardcore His Dark Materials fan, we also headed up Carfax tower to experience Oxford from the rooftops. It might not have been a day for clambering across from building to building, but we definitely made the most of our trip among the spires. Spiral staircase aside (I'm writing this after a big bowl of pasta* - let's not think about all that twirling, unless it's spaghetti round a spoon of course), it's the best place to see the city from, and even better when the sun breaks through the seemingly impenetrable greys of a month's worth of rain in two days. We didn't head inside any of the colleges this time (remember when we bunked into Magdalen?), but from the little we could see from peeking in through the grand wooden doors there's plenty more to see inside. I mean, just look at the museum - and this is the new stuff!

*I'm currently oop norf and this post is scheduled, never quite managed to have pasta for breakfast. Yet.

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Still she sits, young while the earth is old.

Ruskin wax jacket: c/o Barbour. Vintage floral blouse: 50p. Oasis Isabella jeans: £27. Bally boots: £8, charity shop. Primark fedora: £7.

"So, what are you doing with your day off?"

"I'm off to the place I wrote my dissertation about."

Average Friday, really.

When Jazmine asked if I could get some time off work for a day trip, I always knew it'd be something a little out of the ordinary. Rather than spend it together in our pyjamas (however appealing that may have been), we were up early, breakfasting/hot chocolating in Paddington in some seriously special prints: we'd been invited to the Cotswolds to learn all about Barbour's William Morris collection, and said yes in less time than I've spent deliberating over which meal deal sandwich to go for. Since that visit to the William Morris gallery in primary school, I've been rather partial to his oversized florals, so there was no way I was going to miss out on this one.

Kelmscott Manor was Morris' Summer home; a place away from London, a "heaven on earth", and where supposedly he witnessed that bird steal its strawberry. London definitely felt a lifetime away as we were given an incredibly insightful tour of the house and grounds (and lunch - priorities, obvs). I had a little moment when I noticed the facsimile of Morris and Burne-Jones' Canterbury Tales, a subject for much discussion in my dissertation. My topic of choice had been the distinction between art and literature for Rossetti and, in turn, Morris - it was about time I made the journey! TL;DR, Rossetti was all about the two together being an experience, and in their separation they lose much of the creator's meaning. The dissertation may now be printed and bound, but the love lives on, so if you're as much a Rossetti fangirl as me, you'll be pleased to see that his painting "Blue Silk Dress" takes pride of place. Jazz and I made sure to get some quick snaps in our beautiful Morris-print clothes before heading home (how beautiful does she look in her Acanthus shirt?), and I'm going to be wearing my jacket every time the grey clouds show, to brighten things up a little.

I don't often talk about the "perks" of being a blogger here, as I don't generally feel like I ought to draw attention to it (for fear of being found out as a fraud! I'm still amazed anyone thinks there's worth in me taking a few snaps of their products and posting them here, but there you go), but I really do want to say thank you to everyone at Barbour - and Jazz! - for having me along. I honestly had a wonderful day, and it meant so much to have a little more insight into a subject I've loved for such a long time. Start playing that Oscar speech music before I get too into this. Hope you've all had a wonderful weekend so far!

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I have stolen ideas from every book I have ever read.

Laura Ashley trench coat. Topshop scuba top: €15, via Oberpollinger. H&M palm print trousers: £15 (I've got my eye on this similar pair of culottes). Warehouse lace up flats: £29. Gemporia ring. Brandy Melville "thug life" necklace: €9.

When it rains, go somewhere muddy. Obviously. 

Last week I booked a couple of days off work and headed over to Oxford to catch up with family. All plans to have a charming break in glorious August sunshine were quickly nipped in the bud when glancing at BBC Breakfast's weather report, but in true brit style we went for it anyway - that's what umbrellas are for, right? After dropping our bags off, we headed to the Botanic Garden. More than just your usual scrub of grass, this garden housed everything from cannabis to pineapples - something for every palate. I, of course, couldn't help but get some snaps in the palm house as opportunities to match your outfit with your surroundings should never be given up.

It was also a little bit of a special place for me to visit, as it's home to 'Lyra's bench'. Growing up, my absolute favourite books were the His Dark Materials trilogy written by Philip Pullman, from which grew my fascination with this little Oxfordshire city. Anyone else spend a little too much time trying to work out which animal their dæmon would be? I may not have explored Oxford by rooftop like Lyra (although we did climb up Carfax tower), but I couldn't help but visit the little memorial to her and Will whilst we were there.

Time to dust off my old books, and get lost in a novel on the 6.47 tomorrow.

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