Shoe Review: Hunter Original Great wellington boots in bronze

Hunter Original Great wellington boots in bronze

Hunter Original Great wellington boots in bronze

Hunter Original Great wellington boots in bronze

Hunter Original Great wellington boots in bronze

Hunter Original Great wellington boots in bronze, £109

Well, folks, it happened: the weather finally got the better of me, and instead of going for impractical peep toes, I used October’s Sarenza voucher to get a pair of Hunter boots. Trust me, this is every bit as surprising to me as it probably is to you, although… not really. I know we Brits in general (and me in particular) talk a lot about the weather, but honestly, it can be hard not to when it has such an impact on what you can do, and what you can wear. This year has been particularly bad in that respect: the wettest summer on record gave way to a much wetter than average autumn, and we’re now heading into what looks like a wet winter, too. Oh, the joys!

Now, I know people who aren’t from here tend to think of Scotland as a land of constant rain, but actually, our winters generally tend to be of the “cold-but-clear” variety. Or they have in the past, anyway. Not this time, though. I’m not exaggerating when I say I honestly can’t remember the last time it didn’t rain for at least part of the day, and as well as seriously hampering my progress in the Shoe Challenge, it’s also forced me to make quite a few purely practical clothing purchases, the latest of which is these boots.

I’ll be totally honest: while I do love the look of Hunter boots, without my Sarenza voucher, I probably wouldn’t have spent £109 on a pair of rain boots, so once again I have to thank Sarenza for allowing me to try out something that otherwise just wouldn’t have been in my price range. Having spent a few days road-testing these, though (or path-testing them, rather…) I can see why they’re so popular, and also why they’re so much more expensive than regular rain boots. The rubber is thick, and high quality, and there’s a really nice attention to detail which cheaper brands normally lack: I particularly like the stripey lining and name and address tag on the inside of the boot!

I was really spoilt for choice when it came to choosing a colour with these, and finally chose the bronze version because I felt it would be more versatile than the other two main contenders: black (which I wouldn’t want to wear with navy or brown) and red (which I wouldn’t want to wear with green). I think this particular shade will work with everything in my wardrobe, and will work particularly well with the metallic down jacket which was another “purely practical” purchase this month, bought for the purpose of those long walks with the dog on days when it’s too cold to feel your feet.

Speaking of that: to go with these boots I also got the Hunter wellie socks to go inside them:

Hunter wellie socks

These are thick and fleecy and I think will prove essential when it’s really cold outside, because while the boots themselves are sturdy and waterproof, there’s not much in the way of padding, so without thick socks, your feet would be pretty cold in the snow, say. Obviously you can just use regular socks, but I liked the fleecy feel of these, and the contrasting cream colour.

As far as sizing goes, I went down a size with these, having read that they run large. That turned out to be good advice: with the socks on, my toe is right at the bottom of the boot, but they are comfortable to wear, and I can tell that my regular size would’ve been too big. I will mostly be wearing these while trudging through the woods while walking the dog, and the last thing I’d want would be to step out of my boots into a muddy puddle! The one issue, however, is that they’re a little tricky to remove – I needed the help of Shoeperman to pull them off again once they were on!

Overall, I’m really happy with these, and grateful to have the opportunity to try something I wouldn’t otherwise have been able to buy. I’m not including rain boots in my shoe challenge, but I know I’ll definitely have a LOT of opportunities to wear these!

[You can see Sarenza’s full range of Hunter boots here ]

Hunter boots

2 Comments

  • Good choice for our winters, i even wore mine to walk to work for two straight weeks two years ago when Edinburgh was hit with near constant snow. They still look great. I didn’t realise until recently that they’re actually headquartered in Edinburgh as well.

  • This is the most beautiful color I seen on rain boots! I’ve been thinking of buying a pair too, but I haven’t found a color I like yet. These ones seem amazing, although I wouldn’t give so much money for a pair of rain boots either. So, I’ll keep searching.
    I’m sure you’ll get a lot of use out of them.

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