Real stories · Warm without the duvet look

The clever jacket that keeps me warm without making me look like a duvet — the sleeves are the secret

A coat that kept me warm on the early dog walk without turning me into a walking duvet — that's what I'd given up hoping for, honestly. I'm 67, and I walk Winnie first thing every morning, when it's coldest. My old puffer was warm enough, but it was so stiff and bulky that clipping her lead on felt like doing keyhole surgery in boxing gloves. My arms stuck out at angles. Getting into the car in it was its own aerobics class.

What I wanted was simple to say and apparently impossible to buy: proper warmth in the body, but arms I could actually move.

Then I found the Ginevra from a British label called York Boutique — and the design is so sensible I'm amazed everyone doesn't do it.

The trick is that it's two jackets in one. The body is quilted and padded — that's where you actually lose your warmth, and that's where the warmth is. But the sleeves and collar are soft chunky knit, like your favourite cardigan, so your arms bend, reach and stretch exactly as they should. I can clip a lead, carry shopping, and reach the top shelf without the whole coat riding up to my ears. There are proper pockets, and a drawstring at the hem to keep the wind out. It looks deliberately put together — people read it as 'stylish', not 'practical', which may be the highest compliment a warm coat can receive.

The body is quilted and warm, but the sleeves are soft knit — so I can actually bend my arms, reach the top shelf, and clip Winnie's lead on without wrestling myself.

The knitted collar is the part I didn't expect to love: it's soft against the neck where zips usually bite, and it sits nicely without a scarf on the milder days. My neighbour stopped me at the postbox to ask where it was from, which at my age is the local equivalent of going viral.

Now — it's £39.95, and I'll be honest, I hovered over the button for a day at that price. What settled it was the arithmetic: it's half the usual £80 in the summer sale, it replaces both my stiff puffer and the cardigan I used to layer under it, and I'd checked that I could send it back within a fortnight with free delivery if it disappointed. It didn't. It comes in five colours and in sizes UK 8/10 to 18/20.

If your warm coat also makes you move like a deep-sea diver, do treat yourself to a look. The Ginevra is rated 4.6 out of 5 by more than 250 women, it's £39.95 in the summer sale instead of £80 — half price — and the middle sizes always seem to go first.