We keep reading about mindfulness. Dedicating a few minutes each day to yourself and focussing on being in the moment. Even my smart watch nags me at least twice a day to practice the art.

So I’m trying to put it in to practice. Especially important while fighting through the crowds on stressful shopping trips. A recent visit to Brent Cross was the ideal time for me to attempt to switch off from the daily grind.

And the place to do it was one of the newest concessions to land at North West London’s favourite shopping mall.

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Moment for me Photo: Victoria Prever

Bakers and Baristas, which (as the name suggests) is all about hot drinks, sandwiches and cakes. There’s an extensive selection of croissants, baguettes and sandwiches and the usual list of coffees.

But the real reason to park your tuchus here are the muffins, which are a speciality, with no less than 12 different varieties on offer at any time.

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Marvellous muffins Photo: Victoria Prever

It’s self-service, but as an invited guest, the super friendly staff brought me over my toasted cheese sandwich and Americano — which were gone in a few (extremely mindful) minutes.

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Melted cheese and onion will never disappoint

Then it was time for the main event. I’m bad enough at ordering but faced with the colourful display of flavours on show, could have held up the queue for days. From timeless favourites blueberry, lemon poppyseed and chocolate to more modern classics like sticky toffee to seasonal strawberries and cream (or peaches and cream) you can see why I was paralysed with indecision.

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Classic flavours like Vic Sponge are on the menu

There’s also Victoria sponge; raspberry and apple crumble; funfetti; chocolate cherry and coconut , the choice is endless. There are even gluten free options — raspberry, mandarin and white chocolate Pavlova and apple and cinnamon on the day I visited.

The joy was real as I took my time to eat the super tender, fruit-filled strawberries and cream muffin. And I was able to repeat the process later at home with the sticky toffee and chunky chocolate muffins — similarly fresh and flavour-filled — with my mini-Fressers who were rather less mindful in their wolfing down of the treats.

Mindfulness is best practised regularly, so if you need me, I’ll be spending the summer working my way through the display cabinet.