Real stories · The hoodie that doesn't look like one

I wanted hood-up warmth without looking dressed for the gym — this patterned one managed it

Hood-up warm, but it reads as a smart jumper, not gym kit — that's what this is. I'm 67, and I have long envied hoods. A hood is a hat you cannot lose, a scarf for the back of your neck, instant shelter when the drizzle starts at the postbox. But hoodies, the usual sporty sort, make me look like I'm about to go jogging, which I am emphatically not.

What I wanted was the hood without the sportswear.

Then I found the Lunavieraine from a British label called York Boutique — a patterned hoodie in a lovely Fair Isle-style folk pattern, bands of colour like something your cleverest aunt once made, with a curved hem and a soft, breathable feel.

The pattern is what changes everything. Because it's a folk pattern rather than plain sporty grey, it reads as a jumper — I've worn it to the café without a second thought — while the hood quietly does its work: up for the cold neck at the postbox, up for the drizzle on the school-run hour, down and sitting prettily like a collar the rest of the day. And it washes well, keeping its colours and its shape.

A proper jumper with a hood hiding in it — which is why I'm warm at the postbox and presentable at the café.

At £34.95 — half the usual £70 — it undercuts the hat-and-scarf sets it quietly replaced.

It has since done frosty garden teas, the café with Sandra, and one sudden downpour by the postbox from which I emerged entirely smug. Sandra, who owns four hoods and trusts none of them near a café, has asked me to send her the link. I did check before ordering that I could send it back if it didn't suit — you can, within a fortnight, and the delivery's free.

If you've also been wanting a hood you can take to a café, do have a look. The Lunavieraine is rated 4.7 out of 5 by more than 320 women, it comes in brown, blue and green, in UK sizes 4/6 all the way to 24/26 — one of the widest ranges in the shop — and the brown goes first.