Real stories · The jacket for the in-between months

Half the year is too warm for my winter coat and too cold for nothing — this is the jacket for exactly that

The jacket for the in-between months — that's what this is. I'm 67, and my coat rack has always had a gap in it. There's the proper winter coat, there's the summer nothing, and between them sit October, November, March and April — months I've spent either sweating in wool or shivering in a cardigan and calling it 'fresh'.

What I wanted was the missing coat: warm enough for a cold snap, light enough that I'm not carrying it over my arm by eleven.

Then I found the Melisandra from a British label called York Boutique — a mid-length jacket in grey marl with quilted black panels across the shoulders, an asymmetric zip that fastens right up under the chin, and a lined hood. I chose the light grey; there's a darker grey, black, red and blue.

The weight is the clever part. It's a proper protective layer without any of the winter-coat heaviness — which is why it works from September to November and again all spring: light on the shoulders, warm where it counts, and it moves with you instead of sitting on you. The asymmetric zip closes high against the wind, the hood means the forecast can do its worst, and the quilted shoulders keep it looking sporty-smart rather than plain.

A proper layer without the winter-coat weight — a high zip against the wind, a lined hood for the forecast, and light enough that you're not carrying it by eleven. The gap in the coat rack, finally filled.

I'll be honest: £64.95 is the most I've ever spent on this page, and I slept on it twice. Then I counted the months it covers — four now, four again in spring, every year — halved the usual £130 in my head, and noted the fortnight to send it back with free delivery. Per wear, it may end up my cheapest coat.

It has since done three school pickups, a rained-off market and one blustery walk on the city walls, and I haven't once done the too-hot-too-cold coat dance. My daughter called it 'surprisingly cool', with visible suspicion. It was £64.95 in the sale, half the usual £130.

If your coat rack also has a gap between wool and nothing, do have a look. The Melisandra is rated 4.7 out of 5 by more than 210 women, it comes in light grey, dark grey, black, red and blue, in UK sizes 6/8 all the way to 20/22 — and the in-between months are exactly when it sells out.