Real stories · The swimsuit that made me stop dreading the pool

The swimsuit that finally holds everything where I want it — and got me back in the pool without the towel dance

A swimsuit I could walk to the pool in without the towel dance — that's what I'd quietly given up on. I'm 67, and I love the water: aqua aerobics on Tuesdays, the hotel pool on holiday. What I don't love is the bit between the lounger and the steps. My old swimsuits either flattened everything and dug in, or gave up entirely around the middle, and so for years I did what half the women my age do: the towel clamped firmly round the waist until the very last second.

What I wanted was a swimsuit that did some actual work: support where I need it, forgiveness where I want it, and a print cheerful enough to feel like a holiday.

Then I found the Orelia from a British label called York Boutique — an ocean-print one-piece, and it's the first swimsuit in years I've been happy to be seen in.

The clever bits are all in the construction. The waist is cut high, so it gently holds the middle in rather than surrendering to it. The cups genuinely support — no chicken-fillet slippage, no readjusting after every length — and the straps adjust so the fit is yours rather than approximate. Best of all, the front has crossed wrap pleats, and that gathered drape is enormously forgiving: it skims over the bits I'd rather it skimmed over. The ocean print does the rest — it's busy in exactly the right way.

The high waist gently holds the middle in, the cups actually support, and the crossed pleats at the front are very forgiving. For the first time in years I walked from the lounger to the pool without a towel clamped round me.

The proper test was our week away in June. I did the walk from lounger to pool, in front of everyone, towel-free, on the first morning — and by day three I'd stopped thinking about it altogether, which is the whole point. At aqua aerobics it stays put through every exercise; nothing rides up, nothing needs hoiking.

It was £26.95 in the sale, down from £80. I'd checked before ordering that I could send it back if the fit was off — you can, within a fortnight, and the delivery's free — so there was nothing lost by trying. It goes from UK 8/10 right up to 18/20.

If you also do the towel dance, do treat yourself to a look. The Orelia is rated 4.6 out of 5 by more than 200 women, it's £26.95 in the sale instead of £80, and the middle sizes always seem to go first.