OK, so I'm updating my wardrobe so I get to look polished and sophisticated having arrived at the summer of my career in the public sector back in the UK.

What's Central Valley got to do my wardrobe? Everything. Before coming out here, I'd never heard of it - I'd been to NY before and my cousin took me to Clinton Crossing, which I thought was pretty cool and far bigger than the factory retail outlets we have here in England....

But when I read in the London newspaper The Evening Standard that Central Valley was the hip place for fashionistas slumming to get their fashion bargains and it was the biggest place in the world... well, that was too much temptation!

Talk about spoilt for choice - if you know your labels, and you know what you want and are prepared to look, there are bargains to be had. I bought two Jones NY silk outfits (and I'm a big, curvaceous woman) at next-to-nothing prices - Ellen Tracy Italian knits, Geoffrey Beene hoisery, and all sorts of outfits that I wouldn't dream of buying back in the UK....partly because in the UK these outfits wouldn't be in my size....

Having spent all day there (they have a huge food court catering for most styles of fast food), I can safely say I had a good time shopping ....just make sure you've got the stamina to last all day and know what you want before you leave home!

PS: I told the office manager on my return to the UK about Central Valley - he's looking to pack that suitcase...