Real stories · Warm, dry, and not a Michelin man in sight

Warm coats made me look like a duvet with legs — this one is light, keeps the rain out, and I can actually drive in it

A coat that's genuinely warm without making me look and move like a duvet with legs — I'd honestly given up on it. I'm 67, and my winter coats have always been a trade: the warm ones are so bulky I can barely fasten a seatbelt, and the neat ones let the cold — and worse, the Yorkshire drizzle — straight through by November.

What I wanted was simple to say and apparently impossible to buy: light, warm, and actually waterproof.

Then I found the Velarisse from a British label called York Boutique — a waterproof puffer jacket, and I chose the champagne, which is smarter than a winter coat has any right to be.

The clever part is what it doesn't do. It doesn't bulk: the quilting is fine and flat, so I can drive, reach the top shelf and wear it in the car without wrestling. It doesn't leak: the rain beads and rolls off rather than soaking in, and there's a proper hood for the day the forecast lies. And it doesn't weigh: it's so light I've walked home barely noticing I had it on, yet the warmth is real — frosty dog-walk real. It zips to the chin, sits neatly at the hip, and folds down so small it went in my weekend bag with room to spare.

Light enough to forget, warm enough for a frosty dog walk, and the rain beads off it instead of soaking in. Plus a proper hood for the day the forecast lies — which in Yorkshire is most days.

It has already done three weeks of proper autumn: school-gate duty in the rain, the long Sunday walk, a blustery day out in Whitby where everyone else's umbrella died. My friend Barbara — who feels the cold professionally — tried it on and refused to take it off for an hour.

It was £39.95 in the sale — I paused at nearly forty pounds until I counted what it replaces: the warm-but-huge coat, the dry-but-cold raincoat, and the umbrella I lose every year. Half the usual £80, and I'd checked 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 comes in eight colours and in sizes UK 10/12 to 22/24.

If your winter coat also doubles as a wrestling opponent, do treat yourself to a look. The Velarisse is rated 4.7 out of 5 by more than 340 women, it's £39.95 in the sale instead of £80 — half price — and the middle sizes always seem to go first.