Firstly a HUGE big thank you to all of you who took the time to write your entries  to win the ‘All the Best’ necklace from Alex Monroe’s ‘Best of British’ collection and tell us and all the readers of Adorn London from around the globe what ‘quintessentially British’ means to you. We loved every single one of your comments and even noticed a few recurrent themes.

Scenes from the ‘Best of British’ press launch at the Alex Monroe jewellery boutique and Alex with his bike

We left the judging to the affable Alex Monroe here’s what he had to say: "This was a very tricky one. They were all absolutely wonderful and made me smile. But here are some of my thoughts: Jenifer Shiu top marks for your wonderful list; Paula Stewart gets the best-in-least-words-prize with her ‘sand in Cornish pasty’ comment. Brilliant and funny. Rozzy Wyatt is exactly me. Rain, dogs and too much butter! (big sigh…) And Danielle’s ‘Marmite’! I loved Lorna Ryan’s but she’s an old mate so I felt guilty about choosing hers. And a fabulous poem from Rebecca; Irene’s list was great too. Kimm’s… oh I could go on and on… "

BUT

Alex’s winner is Stephanie Prentice.

" … I don’t know what it is but there’s something about Stephanie Prentice’s apologetic encounter which just totally says Britishness to me. I laughed out loud. Very funny and right to the point. I think I’m going to have to choose this one. But actually I think everyone has done brilliantly. I loved them all. "

"A rain-soaked pavement. Sometimes as I scoot and slide through London on my Italian Vespa and nearly crash into a black cab, in that split second just before death, I have caught myself saying…’Woopsie.’ It just comes out. I aspire to something more well, inspiring or at least a proper swear word to show some grit but sigh, I’ll have to keep that in mind. Once on foot I was actually hit by a black cab- hopefully not the same one- I flew through the air, keeled over and after a great pause, shakily stood up. “Are you alright?” the cabbie asked, not sure if he should take my arm as I hobbled, he dithered a polite distance away.”Yes…fine…thank you…Sorry.” I gasped slowly with one foot in front of the other. Our apologetic encounter was very Quintessentially British. For those moments in life when I couldn’t prepare, when I was just Quintessentially me, I scraped through with a little embarrassment, humour and grace and for me that is Quintessentially British". Stephanie Prentice

For those of you who missed out, never fear, Alex Monroe’s ‘Best Of British’ collection will be available to purchase at the end of May… Have a look at the collection here, just in case you have forgotten.

Here’s to the weather!