I'm not one of those people who can sit around mindlessly watching TV, it bores me witness and I just end up eating lots of food out of sheer boredom so of a weekend I often jump in my car and find new places to explore. When I say 'new places' I don't mean places of historical interest, museums and the like - I mean shops.

Driving through Enfield one day with the Boyf I saw a huge sign for Palace Exchange shopping centre and as he doesn't enjoy shopping, I decided to go there by myself as it was an incredibly straight forward journey from my home (we do have SatNav but I have on more than one occasion panicked and turned left down an exit slip road when it actually told me to 'keep left' so I'd get lost and get told off by a posh bint).

There are LOTS of car parks in and around the shopping centre but I use the multi-story which you get to by following the one-way system and then turning left down Sydney Road (just past Lidl). Be warned, the twisty bits to go up and down levels are narrower than other multi-stories - much fun can be had laughing at people in their massive 4x4's trying to navigate the sharp bends but the bonus is that this is a fairly cheap car park - 80p for up to 2hrs, £1.10 for up to 3hrs then it leaps to around £3.30 for 4hrs. The parking spaces are quite wide plus about a third of each level is dedicated disabled and parent & baby spaces. I recently discovered that you have to pay on Sundays - other places I've been to its normally free.

~ The Shops ~

Although I prefer to use the stairs there are lifts on the 4 floors of the car park which will take you down to level 1 where the shops are. Once on Level 1, you then walk out across the metal walkway to get to the shopping area - on your right are two more lifts as if you are of limited mobility or have a buggy you won't be able to get down the metal spiral staircase to the shops. On your left is a large TK Maxx and I've snagged myself a good few bargains in there (recently got a Prada skirt for just £14). It's much better organized and far tidier than the one at Beckton which looks like a complete jumble sale so it's definitely worth a look.

Once down the staircase you are in a nicely paved open shopping area and it all looks quite new and fresh (I just checked, this area opened in October 2006). If you turn behind you you'll see a set of lifts and a grey door, through here are the toilets and a baby changing area. There are more toilets a short walk round near Waitrose, not well sign posted, kind of tucked down by yet more lifts but as these are the ones everyone knows about they are busier and therefore niffier.

Back outside and directly facing you is a large Superdrug, a large-ish H&M and behind and to your right a large Woolworths - now closed down. This isn't your Bluewater Centre and I can name practically all the shops in one big breath:-

Muse - accessories. They love the price £3.99.
Topshop / TopMan. River Island. Dorothy Perkins. New Look. Miss Selfridges. Jane Norman. La Senza.
Pearsons - fair sized department store with Faith, Warehouse, Coast, Hobbs, Phase Eight and other concessions. Their toilets are gross though.
Principles. Next. Evans. Tchibo. WH Smiths. Waterstones. Marks & Spencers. Waitrose. Monsoon. Accessorize. Millets. Body Shop. Boots. Clarks. Sisley. Claires Accessories. H Samuels. Ernest Jones. Jacques Vert. Mothercare. Champneys (yes, in Enfield, I know!!).
A few mobile phone shops, shoe repairers and sports shops plus a weird little shop I can't actually recall the name of, but it kids and childlike grown-ups will love it, you can buy "Pocket Money" toys aswell as priceier items, weird and wonderful gadgets and so on. I bought a tub of plastic goop which makes farting noises when you press it.

There are also three market stalls set up near Waitrose, one sells handbags, the other silver jewellery and the third is a small flower stall.

If you have the munchies:-
Thorntons, Caffe Nero,
Costa Coffee (although getting a seat inside can be a swine), Starbucks, Pearsons restaurant - large but quite bleak, a bit 'Holiday-camp circa 1950's'.
M&S restaurant.

The centre is set out in what seems to be a big reverse question mark shape and it is uncovered - there are covered ledges by the shops so when it rains everyone huddles under them.

If you venture out of the main shopping area on to the main road you have a selection of banks, aswell as HMV, Rosebys, McDonalds, Nandos, SpecSavers, Starbucks (are they breeding?!), Holland & Barrett's, Pizza Express, Prezzo, Café Uno and a large Tesco's plus a large pub and a small outdoor market which seems only to sell fruit and veg. There are also a few cheap and cheerful clothes shops which I've never been in as I know I'll lose all reasoning and self control and buy something hideous and stretchy for a fiver. A big Lidl and Argos have recently opened up, you can get to them by walking through the gap between M&S and Dorothy Perkins or taking the lift or stairs all the way to ground floor.

Palace Exchange isn't the place to go to if you are looking for homewares or say, a new TV, although Pearsons does sell these items you are better off going to the retail parks off Southbury Road as the Exchange is more the place to go for clothes shopping. I've been there a good few times on a Saturday, it's a shopping centre that is small enough not to stress out the Boyf (he can only handle a few shops before he implodes) and it never seems to get manically busy unlike Bluewater, Romford, Lakeside and Brent Cross nor is it besieged by bored looking sk8ter teens which seems to have happened in Romford now the Decathalon sports shop has closed. I've also noticed lots of Police on patrol, not that there's trouble there but there's always a good few mooching about in the Centre.

I have seen signs when driving past the car park that more shops are set to open throughout the year. If you use the car park I've told you about, turn left at the exit to get back to the one way system.

If that isn't enough to sway you, there is a huge Krispy Kreme outlet about a 5 minute drive away (just off the Southbury Road, look out for the big B&Q sign) and that'll lift your spirits aswell as your blood sugar levels although they do sometimes hold kids parties there which are very screechy!

~ Getting there ~

Well, it all depends on your starting point really - if you were to go there using SatNav or an on-line journey planner such as www.getmethere.co.uk use the post code EN2 6SN.

There is also Enfield Town train station which stops just before the cars have to drive round the one way loop and there are numerous buses you could hop on.

Just to confuse matters a little I've discovered that Palace Exchange is also known as Palace Gardens, never the less you can pop along to the website - www.palace-exchange.com - it doesn't really tell you that much but it does show you a shop plan and opening hours.

Palace Gardens / Palace Exchange
14 Shopping Precinct
Palace Gdns, Enfield, EN2 6SN

No late night shopping (although this may change in the run-up to special holiday events) right now the trading hours are Mon-Sat 9:00 - 5:30 and Sunday 10:00 -4:00. Sunday shopping is bliss, the place is so quiet you could backflip through there if you were so inclined.

The only slightly negative point is that whilst I was with Orange I'd get a minimal to zero mobile phone signal, I'm now with Network 3 and all seems fine but this may not apply to other networks so might not be the place to go if you're waiting on a vital "My waters have just broken!!" type call (and if you are, why on earth are you shopping?!).

Obviously it's not a centre like Bluewater or Lakeside so I'm not suggesting you make a specific detour to visit, but if you happen to live nearby then go, shop, enjoy.