A letter from a reader

At 62, I had started dreading the summer. It was my feet.

I almost did not write this down, because it is only a pair of sandals and I am not the sort of woman who gets excited about that sort of thing any more. But three different people stopped to ask me about them while we were away last week, and when that happens at 62 you start to think there might be something in it.

The truth is my feet had quietly started running the show. Summer used to be the easy season, and somewhere along the way it had become the hardest. Every pretty sandal I owned was flat and hard and left my feet aching by lunchtime, and the ones that promised comfort looked like something the doctor had prescribed. On a warm day my feet would swell, nothing would fit right, and I would spend a lovely day out just looking for the next bench to sit down on.

I had decided the choice was pretty and painful, or comfortable and frumpy. I did not think you were allowed both.

So I stopped looking forward to the warm days, and the trips, and just got through them.

Then I saw them on a friend

A friend of mine had a pair on and told me she had walked round a whole town in them without a single grumble. They are from Nottingham Boutique, a little boutique that has been quietly looking after women our age for a few years, and they had their summer sale on. They are called the Emily, a soft navy pair, and they come in six colours. I ordered mine that same evening before I could talk myself out of it.

What happened on holiday

I wore them all day sightseeing the following week, not expecting to think about them at all, which turned out to be the whole point. Instead, three separate women came over to ask me where they were from. Three. My friend Sue said I looked like I was actually having a lovely time, which I was, because for once I was not counting down to a sit down.

That was the moment it clicked for me. I had spent a couple of summers believing sore feet were simply my lot now, and here was a pair of sandals that quietly proved me wrong.

Three things I have learned since

One. The sole does the work. There is a cushioned, shock-absorbing sole and a bit of proper support under the arch, so the hard pavements and long days do not jar my feet and my knees the way they used to.

Two. The adjustable straps are the secret. The straps undo and adjust, so they fit properly around my feet even when they swell up in the heat. If your feet are on the wider side, or puff up on a warm day, this is the bit that changes everything.

Three. They look like normal sandals. That is what I did not expect. They are steady and supportive, and yet nobody looking would ever call them a comfort shoe. They just look like something I chose.

About the price

I will be honest, when I saw how little they were I was a bit suspicious. Sandals that actually look after your feet usually come with a price to match.

The Emily is £29.95. It was £60.00.

There was no catch. They arrived quickly, they were comfortable from the very first day with no breaking in, and they looked exactly like the picture, which we all know is not always the way.

I did go and read the reviews before I ordered a second pair in the beige. 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, "First summer in years I have not spent the whole holiday wishing I could take my shoes off." That was the one that decided it for me.

What I would tell you if we were friends

If you were sitting across from me with a cup of tea, I would not give you a sales pitch. I would just say that I had quietly started shrinking my summers to fit my feet, and one comfortable pair of sandals gave me back the long, warm days.

Order your usual size, pick the colour that makes you smile, and give your feet an easier summer.

Two practical things. The sale is on at the moment, and the middle sizes are the ones that go first, which I found out because the UK6 in beige was gone by the time I went back for it. And once the summer stock has sold through, that is it until next year.

It is the rarest kind of sandal. The one that lets you walk all day and still looks like something you chose.

Caroline