What's in my Village England Cranleigh Bag?

Village England Cranleigh Bag, H&M Keyring

It was suggested that I should do a "What's in my bag post" by Eve on Instagram. And I thought okay, now is as good a time as any as I've just got a new bag and it's looking quite tidy :o) 

Diving in, this is what we have ....

Shall we start with the bag itself?

Well, that's my new Cranleigh bag up there which I received from Village England which is a relatively new English brand. I did know a little about them as I've seen the bags featured on a number of my favourite blogs and I know that Julia Dobson and Eddie Knevett the founders have been clever, done their homework and produced a range of leather bags pitched at the more affordable end of the luxury leather goods market. That's good news for you and me :o) My days of Mulberry are long gone as I feel they've overpriced themselves in recent years but I still want a nice bag at a sensible price.  This is where Village England hopefully fill a gap. And do you like the antiqued brass hardware on the bag? A little bit quirky but smacks of English tradition. This is something which Eddie (he's in charge of the bag designs) has pulled off really well as his business idol is  Sir Paul Smith who he says has managed to create a strong brand with a quirky identity. Yep  Eddie definitely nailed it with the Cranleigh!

Now I picked this little black saddle bag because it's the perfect size and shape for me for me to use every day. Not too big, not too small but spacious enough for me to fit a few things in there comfortably. I went with the black despite it being not the most exciting colour ever but you know what? I like black bags. They rock my world. I also like a messenger strap - I've been going handsfree for the last nine or so years - if you have children, you'll understand and it becomes a hard habit to break. And other things worth a mention include (1) there are no fiddly buckles to deal with as the bag is fastened with a magnetic closure, (2) the heavy antiqued brass finish on the hardware is just perfect as I don't like shiny shiny anyway and (3) the new leather smell. Yep, you've got the real deal there!

Moving on to the actual contents :

Tissues. I pick up a pack of ten from the pound shop and usually have a pack floating around in one of my bags. Where there are boys there is snot.

Maoam Sweets. Keeps them quiet.

Burts Bees Lip Balm in Dahlia. That's the only makeup I carry around with me but it's all I can manage when I'm out of the house anyway. 

Keys. We all have keys.

Purse. This is one I got from Kurt Geiger a few years back and it seems to be holding up quite well. Its quite big but it needs to be to house all my receipts for all my returns. I bet you weren't expecting it to be pink though were you?

Power Bank. Also known as the "life saver". I took this with me when I went camping and you know when you're hanging on to battery life by 1% before your phone conks out - this little gadget saved me and my sanity. Yes it's sad but oh you should have seen the joy when I realised it fitted my phone. I bought it originally for the boy's iPads but found it fitted my Samsung instead #oh_happy_day

Fold up Bag. I went posh and bought myself a little fold up bag that I picked up from Clas Ohlson which I took a shine to just because I liked that zingy shade of green. They do come in handy you know. 

Phone. We can't go anywhere without the phone can we? You can? You have more of a life than me.

Panda Keyring. This was too cute to pass up. Actually that's not true. I passed him up the first time he came out a few months back and then he sold out and then he popped back in store again. So I had to buy him before he sold out again. 

Camera. Not shown in the picture because I was using it to take the picture!

So for a rather compact looking bag ... it fits quite a lot in doesn't it? The most joyous thing is the fact that the days of baby wipes are long gone! Woohoo!

Next coat, Ganni Sweatshirt, Topshop Baxters, Adidas Stan Smiths

Village England Cranleigh Bag available here and here

-----------------------------

Last Notes :

• Well I've used the bag every day since I've got it - I guess that means it's a goody.

• To use the Village England quote on their site, I like that the bag is "not so precious that it can't be thrown in the back of the car" because that's what sometimes happens!

• The Village England bags are also available at House of Fraser where there just happens to be a Black Friday promotion going on. Have you seen the jaguar print one? Treat yourself or maybe get writing that letter "Dear Santa ....."

Cranleigh Bag in Jaguar

* Cranleigh bag c/o Village England