A letter from a reader

At 62, getting my boots on meant ten minutes sat on the bottom stair

I have never written to a shop before, and I did not expect my first letter to be about a pair of boots.

Every winter it was the same performance. Coat on, bag by the door, and then the boots. I would sit on the bottom stair, hook a finger in the back, and tug and wriggle and puff until my heel finally went down. Then the other one. By the time I stood up I was red in the face and my husband was standing in the doorway jangling the car keys. Getting them off again at the end of the day was even worse.

I could have warm, cosy boots, or I could have boots I could actually get on. I had decided that at my age I could not have both.

So I lived in my old slip-ons all winter, with cold ankles and wet socks, because at least they did not need a wrestling match.

Then I saw a pair on my friend Janet at the garden centre

Janet had the cosiest-looking boots on, a soft sand colour with a chunky knitted cuff standing up over her jeans and pretty laces tied at the back. I said they must take some getting into. She laughed and showed me the zip down the inside. Unzip, step in, zip up, done. She told me they were from Nottingham Boutique, a little boutique that has been quietly dressing women our age for a few years now. They are called the Carlina. I ordered mine that evening.

What happened on our Sunday walk

I wore them for the first time on our Sunday walk and pub lunch, jeans tucked in, the knit cuffs up over the top. I was ready before my husband for once. Three different women asked me about them before we had even ordered, and my friend Sue told me I looked like I had made an effort, which I have decided to take as a compliment.

It is a small thing, a pair of boots. But not dreading putting them on has made me want to get out of the house again.

Three things I have learned since

One. A zip changes everything. The Carlina has a long zip down the inside of each boot. You unzip it, slide your foot in and zip it up. No tugging, no wriggling, no sitting on the stairs for ten minutes.

Two. The knit cuff is not just for show. That chunky knitted cuff stands up above the boot over your jeans, so it looks cosy and keeps the gap at the top covered. Tuck your jeans in and it looks finished.

Three. Pretty details make you want to wear them. The crossed laces at the back with their little tassel ties, the softly ruched leather-look and the tiny studded panel make them look like something you chose, not something practical you put up with. And the low block heel is easy to walk in all day.

About the price

I had expected boots like these to cost a good deal more.

The Carlina is £34.95. It was £70.

There is no catch. They have their autumn sale on and delivery is free. They come in the khaki I chose, plus purple, blue, grey and black, from a UK 2 to a UK 8.5.

I did go and read the reviews before I ordered. Just over three hundred of them, sitting at 4.2 stars. Not the suspiciously perfect five you see on some sites, which if I am honest made me trust it more. One woman had written, "My knees are not what they were and these are the first boots in years I can get on without help. And they look lovely." That was the one that decided it for me.

What I would tell you if we were friends

If you came round and we sat out on the porch with a cup of tea, this is what I would tell you.

If you dread putting your boots on every morning this winter, you do not have to put up with it. Look for a zip. And if the boots happen to be cosy and pretty too, so much the better.

They do not look like they were made for somebody half my age, and they do not look like I have given up either.

Caroline