Real stories · Like walking on clouds

The cushioned slides that feel like walking on a cloud

I'm 67, and by the end of a summer's day my feet are properly tired — achy soles, the lot. Slippers are too warm and shapeless, and my ordinary sandals are hard and flat underfoot, so there's no relief at all when I finally sit down or potter about the house and garden of an evening.

What I wanted was something wonderfully cushioned to slip on around the house and out to the garden — a treat for tired feet, easy to step into, and cool. Most cushioned shoes, though, are great clumpy trainers, not something you'd slip on and off.

Then I found the Alistair sandals from a British label called York Boutique — cloud-comfort cushioned slides, in the summer sale. I chose the black and orange, and slid my feet in.

Oh, the relief. The sole is thick and soft and squishy — it really is like walking on a cloud — and it springs back with every step. There's a massaging, bumpy footbed that cradles the foot, a wide comfortable strap over the top, and they're feather-light. I slip them on the moment I'm home and my tired feet just sigh.

Thick, squishy cushioning underfoot. My tired feet have never been so happy.

Cushioning like this, I assumed, would be sixty pounds. But York Boutique sells direct, so they were £29.95 in the summer sale. Worth every penny for my poor feet.

My husband keeps trying to borrow mine, so I may have to order him his own. They come in five colours — including a smart all-black — and in sizes 4 to 11.5.

If your feet are tired and sore of an evening, do treat yourself to a look. The Alistair is rated 4.6 out of 5 by more than 300 women, it's £29.95 in the summer sale instead of £60 — half price — and the middle sizes always seem to go first.