The Ultimate Packing Guide #5 : Countryside Break • TRAVEL

There's some so relaxing about waking up to the sounds of the birds singing and breathing in the fresh air in a beautiful green landscape. For those of you who are more about staying in a country cottage with hot chocolate and a blanket than hitting the town to paint it red, here's a packing guide of things to bring with you when setting your sites on the English countryside.

Chicwish gray coat, £41 • Burberry rain boots • Converse white canvas shoes • Nixon leather strap watch • Illesteva round frame glasses, £200 • Rag bone grey hat, £155 • Moisturizing concealer, £24 • Christian Dior lipstick, £26 • Bkr fragrance, £25 • Canon PowerShot SX530 HS Digital Camera Black, £170

Forget your bikinis and shorts, this is all about being warm from the chill of the wind and wearing practical shoes. It may not seem as glamorous to some, but the silent serenity of the rolling hills and animals are sure to put your in a peaceful state of mind.

The Main Items:

Mel camel dress, £14 • MANGO brown cable knit sweater • Zara cotton coat, £55 • American Eagle Outfitters tapered leg jeans, £21 • Hunter tall rubber boots, £50 • Converse navy blue sneaker

I think the key to English weather is packing for variety, that means something that will work for multiple occasions and that you can get away with wearing in multiple of ways. So these are my suggestions when it comes to packing your main luggage...

1. A Warm Coat - It's England, which means it's probably going to rain. No doubt it will be cold and probably a bit windy, so bring a coat. Make sure it's warm, waterproof and that you feel comfortable wearing it with all your outfits. Or your partner doesn't mind you stealing theirs - men's / unisex jackets can be a lot warmer.

Mango coat • Mango coat • MANGO wool blend coat • Monki coat • Green coat, £48 • Soia Kyo fur coat, £360 • Bunny coat, £21 • Camel coat, £34 • Fake fur coat, £28 • Superdry men s coat

2. A Warm Jumper - We Brits love a good jumper, especially when the weather is unpredictable, nothing makes us feel more smug than saying to someone who's cold 'didn't you bring a jumper?' or 'you should have brought a jumper with you' or some other variation of this very annoying line when you have forgotten yours and are feeling cold.

Long sleeve top • Knit sweater, £26 • Long sleeve sweater • Knit sweater, £21 • Demylee striped sweater

3. A Nice Day-Time Dress - Because it's England, we never really know when we might get a little bit of unexpected sun, so it's nice to have one option for if this miracle moment does arrive and the sunshine graces our pasty presence. It also makes a nice evening option for a dinner date or a night down the pub.

Free People bohemian dress • American Vintage short blue dress • Toast stripe dress, £50 • River Island cream dress • Topshop doll dress • MANGO red evening dress

4. Wellington Boots - Country walks are a disaster for any shoes if they are not a wellie. The muddy dog walks, hillside strolls and any chance of walking somewhere wet will require these. You can get some nice looking ones if these items seem unfashionable and uncool to you. They are always handy to have in the boot of your car and for festivals.

Barbour rain boots • Hunter boots, £98 • Hunter rubber rain boots • Joules rubber boots • Hunter boots, £115 • Hunter black rain boots • Joules floral shoes • Hunter navy shoes, £61 • Ilse Jacobsen Hornbaek black rain boots • Rubber boots, £24

5. Trainers/Comfy Shoes for Everyday Use - When you're going out somewhere with a nice cobbled pavement or walking through a quaint village town, you're not going to want to be traipsing muddy wellies around with you, so make sure you have shoes that feel like slippers to save your feet from killing you at the end of a long day of walking.

Chiara Ferragni flat, £205 • New Balance sports shoes, £49 • Converse white shoes • Converse flat shoes • NIKE wide shoes, £49 • Nike sneaker • Converse high top shoes • Toast navy blue shoes • New Balance white shoes • Corso Como slip on shoes, £69 • New Balance black shoes, £45 • Madewell flat shoes, £81 • Zara white sandals, £14

6. Jeans - A classic staple that is going to be lived and died in during your country break. You'd be a fool not to pack jeans.

DL1961 Premium Denim dark blue skinny jeans, £72 • Rag & bone ripped denim jeans • Wrap slim fit straight leg jeans, £94 • Rag & bone slouchy boyfriend jeans • American Eagle Outfitters tapered leg jeans, £21 • Rag & bone dark wash skinny jeans, £98 • Distressing jeans, £17 • STELLA McCARTNEY highwaisted skinny jeans • Frame Denim 5 pocket jeans, £78 • Plus size skinny leg jeans, £15

The Hand Luggage:

You never know what activity you might decided to do last minute, so as it's England, always be prepared. These items are less of an essential, but more of a suggestion of the types of things us country-bumpkins like to carry with us.

1. Some Kind of Food Storage System/Flask for Snacks and a Drink - There's nothing worse than being out and feeling hungry and thirsty with nowhere around to get food or drink. We love a good picnic and any excuse to eat outside, purely because we feel like we are somewhere a lot sunnier than England when we do, so it's always useful to have a thermos of hot chocolate and a tub of sandwiches to hand for those emergency tummy rumbles.

Beverage cooler, £21 • Food storage container, £17 • Rip Curl food storage container, £13 • Zilla leather lunch bag, £240 • Skip Hop food storage container, £9.51 • Lunch box • S well car cup holder, £17 • French Bull lunch box, £33 • Lunch box • Lunch bag, £9.03 • Tea cup, £25 • Stainless steel thermo, £25 • Bkr post card, £25 • Storage canister, £13 • Nude spice jar, £26 • Bkr fragrance, £24 • Bkr fragrance, £31 • Bkr fragrance, £19

2. A Camera - English country views are beautiful, perfect for photographs on a clear day, but forgetting your camera is one thing that really annoys me. So I always like to have my camera to hand, ready to capture those perfectly timed moments.

Polaroid Two Instant Digital Camera with Integrated: Amazon.co.uk:... • Fujifilm Instax Mini 8 White Instant Camera | Jo-Ann, £69 • VEHO Muvi K-2 Sport WiFi action camera bundle • Canon EOS 100D Digital SLR Camera with 18-55mm IS STM Lens, HD 1080p,... • New Instant Camera Fujifilm Instax Mini 90 Neoclassic • Canon G7 X

3. Sunglasses - Just in case the summer decides to grace us with it's presence early, or it's been rainy and the roads look more white than they do anything else, having a pair of sunglasses to pop on your face is always a good idea.

Club Monaco vintage sunglasses, £90 • Linda Farrow round sunglasses, £705 • Oliver Peoples sunglasses, £115 • STELLA McCARTNEY round sunglasses, £185 • Prada round sunglasses, £210 • Linda Farrow cat eye sunglasses, £375 • Prada sunglasses, £265 • Karen Walker cat eye sunglasses, £175 • Karen Walker round glasses • Ray-Ban ray ban glasses • Ray-Ban ray ban glasses • Circle sunglasses, £8.68

4. A Scarf - And in case the other way round should occur and what feels like the opening to The Wizard of Oz is happening outside, a scarf is never going to be a bad idea.

Houndstooth shawl, £7.98 • Look by M infinity scarf, £29 • Parkhurst infinity scarf, £27 • Diane Von Furstenberg scarve, £72 • Faux fur shawl • Burberry cashmere scarve, £260 • Luella evening shawl • Miss Selfridge scarve, £15 • Valentino silk scarve, £190

The Beauty Bits:

You can definitely get away with a little bit more of whatever takes your fancy when it comes to makeup, as you won't be sweating it off in the blazing heat or washing it off with pool water, here you can fully embrace the true English Rose look with a clear complexion, rosy cheeks, and pink naturally pouty lips.

1. A Good Base - The typical English Rose look is all about that porcelain, doll like skin that looks natural and flawless - however to avoid looking like you've got the whole drugstore on your face, go for a glowing full coverage with a light-weight consistency that doesn't need reapplication.

Concealer • Mineral Essence oil free foundation, £15 • Smashbox makeup, £27 • Clinique tinted moisturizer • Foundation, £30 • Clinique concealer • Guerlain tinted moisturizer, £37 • Smashbox concealer, £17 • Laura Geller tinted moisturizer, £24 • NYX foundation, £5.21 • Nars cosmetic, £33 • Bare Escentuals dark circle concealer • Foundation brush

2. Blusher - The next thing that gives the English Rose look is the rosy cheeks, it's the natural windswept look crossed with that fairy like facial features that many of us try to master (and often fail).

Bobbi Brown Cosmetics blending brush, £32 • Urban Decay highlight makeup, £31 • Christian Dior blush, £30 • Lancôme makeup, £27 • Hourglass cosmetic, £26 • Lancôme powder blush, £22 • Palette makeup, £22 • Clarins mineral blush, £22 • Nars cosmetic, £21 • Nars cosmetic, £21 • Nars cosmetic • Illamasqua blush • LORAC blush, £15 • Stila blush, £14 • Jane blush, £8.33 • Blush • Clinique cosmetic, £3.47

3. Pink Lips - Kissably pink lips are the key to polishing off that natural and effortless look of the country chic girl. Opting for a deeper pink with more of a purple base and red tones will look a lot better than Barbie bubblegum pink. We don't want to look like a five year old let loose with a makeup bag.

NYX lip treatment • Tom Ford lipstick, £38 • Tom Ford lipstick, £36 • Marc jacobs lipstick, £21 • Charlotte Tilbury moisturizing lipstick, £22 • Tory Burch lipstick, £22 • Burberry moisturizing lipstick, £21 • Sigma Beauty lipstick, £17 • Lipstick Queen lip pencil, £15 • Too Faced Cosmetics moisturizing lipstick, £15 • Lipstick, £15 • Nars cosmetic • Nars cosmetic • LAQA Co lip pencil, £14 • Marc jacobs lipstick • Nars cosmetic • NARS Cosmetics makeup purse • Topshop moisturizing lipstick • Topshop moisturizing lipstick • Topshop cosmetic • Moisturizing lipstick, £3.82 • Lipstick

The Luxury Optionals:

For those who aren't that bothered about packing light, here are a few things you may want to bring with you, to add that touch of luxury to soothe any cabin fever you may have.

1. A Nice Watch - We are time-keepers here in England, we have our own sayings for every possible moment of the day, times to eat and we hate those who are late. Which means that a watch is very handy.

Rolex watch, £4,515 • Nixon watch, £120 • Kate Spade gold jewelry, £155 • Barbour black watch • Olivia Burton rose gold watch • CLUSE black watch, £73 • I Love Ugly watch, £69 • Olivia Burton leather jewelry • White watch, £20 • Men s watch

2. A Fedora Hat - For me wearing a hat feels very British, we love to go to events where hats are part of the dress code, and nothing says country chic like a fedora.