Real stories · Pretty shoes that behave

My shoes were either pretty or kind to my feet — these are both

Shoes pretty enough to be complimented and kind enough to wear all day — I'd stopped believing both could live in one shoe. I'm 67, and my shoe rack had become a war zone: the pretty ones that started pinching by the second shop, and the comfortable ones that looked, frankly, prescribed. Every outing began with choosing which to regret.

What I wanted was one pair that ended the war.

Then I found the Broderyn from a British label called York Boutique — a neat pointed-toe slip-on with a low block heel and the loveliest embossed flowers worked across the smooth leather-look surface. I chose the black; there's red and brown as well.

The trick is that the pretty part and the kind part are different departments. The embossed flowers and pointed toe do the elegance — which is why they pass at a lunch without looking remotely sensible — while inside, a properly cushioned sole and a low, steady block heel do the kindness, taking the pressure off heels and toes hour after hour. Slip-on, too: no bending, no buckles.

Embossed flowers that get noticed across a café, on a cushioned sole and a low, steady block heel — which is why they last the whole day without filing a single complaint.

They were £34.95, half the usual £70 — about what the last 'pretty' pair cost me, plus the plasters. A fortnight to send them back and free delivery, which I checked and then forgot about entirely.

They have since done a full lunch-and-errands Tuesday, a bookshop afternoon and one christening, with not a single complaint filed from below, and at the lunch the waitress — a girl of about twenty — said 'oh, I love your shoes'. At my age, from her age, that is a decoration.

If your shoe rack is also at war with itself, do have a look. The Broderyn is rated 4.6 out of 5 by more than 240 women, it comes in black, red and brown, in UK sizes 2 to 7 — and at half price the black goes first.