Get started with fountain pens with the LAMY Vista Beginners' Set and save 25%.

The set includes:

• The LAMY Vista fountain pen - a classic with a transparent barrel so you can see how the ink travels through the pen, and get different looks with different inks.
• An ink cartridge, if you want a quick and simple setup.
• A converter to allow you to use bottled inks, which is where the real joy of using a fountain pen is, picking your favourite colours!
• A bottle of LAMY Crystal Ink in your choice of colour - hopefully the first of many different interesting inks you can use.

The Lamy Vista is a popular fountain pen, and great for beginners. It's based on the reliable Lamy Safari, but made from transparent ABS, so it's tough, but also gives you a good view of what's going on inside - ideal for your first fountain pen!

Not only do you get to learn about these wonderful writing instruments by seeing what happens as the ink flows from the cartridge or converter to the nib, but you can always see your ink, and how much is left, so you never run out unexpectedly.

You can choose your ink colour, taken from the Lamy Crystal ink range. These are a range of luxury inks inspired by gemstones. We hadn't heard of the peridot, but it turns out it's a lovely green.

A lot of people prefer the ease of using an ink cartridge, but for us, bottled inks are the way to go. For a start it feels 'proper' taking ink from a bottle and putting it in a pen.

Though the real reason to love bottled inks is the wide range of inks you use. You can pick from thousands of colours, as well as find inks that shimmer and sheen to give your writing an extra unusual touch.

If you are going to be using bottled inks, you will need to use a converter, which we have, handily, supplied in the set.

Basically, a converter slots into the pen just like a cartridge, and draws ink from the bottle. It's surprisingly simple, but if you're concerned about getting it wrong, we do have this handy video guide to how it works.