Real stories · The smart boots that don't punish

Knee-high boots always looked wonderful and felt like punishment — these are built to be walked in

The smart boots that don't punish — that's what these turned out to be. I'm 67, and tall boots had quietly left my life. Not because I stopped loving them — because they stopped loving me. The elegant ones had heels my knees filed complaints about, the flat ones had soles like cardboard, and by the end of a morning in town my heels and arches would be counting every cobble in York.

What I wanted was a boot that looks like the old me and walks like sensible shoes.

Then I found the Belvoria from a British label called York Boutique — orthopaedic knee-high boots, and I chose the black, with the grey knitted cuff at the top and the buckle at the ankle doing the styling.

The clever part is hidden inside. There's a cushioned insole that absorbs the impact of pavement, and the sole is designed to spread the pressure evenly as you walk, which is why my heels, arches and knees stopped keeping score by lunchtime — the boot takes the strain, not me. The heel is a low, stable block, so you're steady on wet leaves and cobbles, and the whole thing is surprisingly light for a boot with this much boot to it. Meanwhile the top half — the slouchy shaft, the studs, the knitted cuff sitting snug on the calf — is doing all the looking-expensive.

Underneath the buckles and the lovely slouchy shaft, these are quietly built like support footwear — cushioning that absorbs the pavement, a low block heel that keeps you steady, and pressure spread so evenly my knees stopped keeping score.

I'll be honest: at £44.95 I hovered for an evening. Then I counted what I'd spent over the years on beautiful boots that lived in the wardrobe because they hurt — and ordered. You can send them back within a fortnight and delivery's free, so the risk was nil. They fit, and the knitted cuff means no cold gap at the knee and no pinching at the calf.

They have since done the full circuit: market day, two long dog walks with Winnie, and a wet Saturday in town without a single complaint from below. Malcolm says I 'walk faster in them', which I choose to take as a compliment. They were £44.95 in the sale, half the usual £90.

If tall boots quietly left your life too, do have a look. The Belvoria is rated 4.7 out of 5 by more than 230 women, it comes in black, brown, red, purple and green, in sizes 2 to 10 — and at half price the black goes first, every time.