Bicester Village

Seeing as the weather became pretty decent in the last few days, we both (Ash and I) decided to go on a road trip (shopping related ofcourse!). So we thought, instead of going to another shopping centre, we'd visit a well known designer outlet in Oxfordshire called Bicester Village.

The both of us have heard plenty of good recommendations and read positive reviews about the outlet, so we thought we'd decide to go and see what the fuss was about!

We decided to drive to the village, and we left Birmingham around about half ten in the morning to arrive at the outlet at half eleven. And to our surprise, the parking was majorly full! But with a lot of patience, and luck, we found a spot five minutes after arriving. In all honesty, once we left car and walked towards the village, I felt like a kid in a sweet shop. We were both spoilt for choice on which shop we would go into first! As we walked towards the village, the first shop we saw was the Ralph Lauren outlet. And we decided to visit there first!

Firstly, we went upstairs, which was womenswear. And from here, I decided to purchase a cotton cable knit Polo Ralph Lauren jumper in navy. Amazingly, the price was only £39.99! Usually, in other department stores such as House of Fraser and John Lewis, these jumpers are usually around the £80-£90 mark. So this was definitely a bargain!

Hereon, we visited a few other designer labels such as Paul Smith, Diesel, Michael Kors as well as Gucci and Dolce & Gabbana. However, nothing really jumped out from the items on sale.. as well as the fact we're both students who can't afford to wear such expensive things on a daily basis! If only..

From there, we decided to go to Ted Baker. And to our surprise, the items within the store were amazingly affordable. Here, I (Ash) purchased a few formal items such as a black and silver tie-pin, a pair of Baker cufflinks, as well as a leather wallet and a detailed pocketsquare - All at the expense of just £60.00! I must admit, they were really great buys. The pocket square is a four-in-one which is perfect seeing as it'd be easier to maintain and look after. The quality of the wallet is amazing and has great detail to it which I love!

Luckily, the weather was still on our side, and we built up an appetite. Although Bicester Village is a lovely place to visit, we were both surprised at the lack of places to snack/eat within the outlet! This led us to going to a restaurant hidden in one of the corners of the village called Busaba Eathai, a thai eatery. And seeing as we both enjoy eating oriental food, we thought this would be perfect! We both ordered a noodle based dish alongside a plate of springrolls (seeing as we were quite hungry!) and this had been the perfect ending to a perfect shopping trip :).

We both recommend those who haven't been to the outlet before, to go and check it out! Especially if you are a fashion fiend as well as a bargain hunter. We both believe the Village will have something for you. And even if you don't find anything that tickles your fancy.. it's still an amazing day out as well as a nice place to visit..

We didn't really buy as much as we wanted, nothing particularly wowed us. Ash was hoping to purchase a few items from All Saints and Jack Wills, but once we got there we realised that All Saints had closed down - a major let down! Also, Jack Wills' men's section at Bicester wasn't really great and lacked the good quality items you'd find in the normal outlets. Here's some images of what else we bought.



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