Real stories · The bag that carries the whole day

I used to leave the house with three bags — now it's one, and it weighs nothing

One bag for the whole day, and a shoulder that's stopped complaining about it — that's the review. I'm 67, and my errand days used to leave the house looking like a small removal: handbag, shopping bag, library tote, and a carrier 'just in case'. Somewhere between the butcher's and the bus stop, my shoulder would file its usual objection.

What I wanted was one bag big enough for the day and light enough for me.

Then I found the Corvallia from a British label called York Boutique — a soft quilted puffer tote in warm beige with sturdy shoulder straps and a handy side pocket. I chose the beige; there's black as well.

The sums are simple: twenty litres, next to no weight. It swallows the library books, the shopping and the just-in-case cardigan whole — which is why my shoulder has stopped keeping score by mid-morning — while the side pocket takes the brolly or a bottle, upright and findable. The puffer surface is soft against the hip, smart enough for anywhere, and the finish shrugs off York drizzle: rain sits on it in beads and wipes away.

Twenty litres that swallow the library books, the shopping and the brolly, in a soft puffer that weighs next to nothing — which is why my shoulder has finally stopped keeping score.

It was £34.95, half the usual £70 — less than I've spent replacing handbag straps that gave up under shopping duty. A fortnight to send it back and free delivery settled it.

It has since done two library runs, three markets and one properly wet Tuesday, everything arriving dry and my shoulder silent throughout, and at the library the woman at the desk patted it and said it looked 'like a little duvet for your books'. It rather is.

If your errand days also leave the house looking like a removal, do have a look. The Corvallia is rated 4.6 out of 5 by more than 240 customers, it comes in beige and black, one generous size — and at half price the beige goes first.