If you’d told me a couple of years ago that I’d be the sort of person who has developed a mild obsession with finding the perfect wellies, I probably wouldn’t have believed you. But since getting our dog Grenson, wellies have rocketed to the top of my list of important, no, ESSENTIAL footwear. And while I’ve got the city Wellington thing covered – I favour a short ankle boot as it’s easy to integrate with your normal wardrobe – when we planned a trip around the country for my 40th birthday, I knew I was going to need something more substantial.

The trouble is, a traditional long Wellington boot isn’t ideal when you’re not very tall. At 5ft3″, and with strangely proportioned legs (I have very long thighs. And yes, I realise this makes me the ideal candidate for wearing heels but let’s ignore that!) my pins get lost in them, and they usually end up being over the knee on my petite frame, rather than knee length. So I was delighted to discover that Barbour does a short Wellington; longer than ankle length which was going to be totally necessary for our off-season glamping trip, but not so long that my legs get swamped. Ideal!

Our trip took us first to the Lake District, where I’m ashamed to say I had never been before. How beautiful is the Lake District?! I feel quite the fool for waiting forty years. We stayed at Scales Plantation in a Herdwick Hut, which was amazing. It was right in the middle of nowhere, and with the loo being in a separate hut, I don’t know where I would have been without my wellies. Well, I do actually – I’d be constantly getting annoyed that I had to lace up my trainers every time I left the hut, because Mr Brogue forgot to bring his wellies, and spent most of his time huffing and puffing on the subject! They were also brilliant for walking Grenson and turned out to be much more comfortable than your average Wellington with a nice snug fit while having plenty of room for a sturdy walking sock.

From top: our Herdwick hut with Barbour Short Wellington boots, £69.95, barbour.com; the sky over Derwentwater; Grenson and my wellies

Next we headed to the Scottish Highlands, and I totally fell in love. We will be going back there VERY soon. If you’ve never been I recommend sorting yourself out pronto. We live in such a beautiful collection of countries – we should all make the effort to explore it! Our accommodation was a fantastic bothy – AKA a very trendy wooden hut – called Bonnie right on the banks of Loch Lochy. The first thing Grenson wanted to do every morning was bounce outside in the fresh air, so of course my Barbour wellies came into their own again in Scotland. They also looked splendid next to the roaring log burner (I discovered on this trip that I am the fire starter in this family – Mr Brogue was relegated to fried breakfast enabler while I stoked the embers).

From top: our bothy; on the banks of Loch Ness; Grenson on Loch Lochy; in Glencoe (NB how well do the two-tone wellies match the landscape?!)

Now, I know what I said about long wellies, but I also tried out a Barbour pair while I was away and I have to say, they’re rather good for the short legged girl as you can see from the picture below. Not only that, they’re pretty important to have in your repertoire when you have a miniature schnauzer that goes against the nature of his breed and LOVES swimming. We struggle to keep him out of the water, and with all the lakes and lochs we visited (including the infamous Loch Ness which I have to say, was incredibly atmospheric – I can see why people imagined a monster living in it!), it was only fair to let him have a dip. It was also nice to know that I could get right up to my knees to fish him out if he ventured out too far!

From top: Barbour Bede Wellingtons, £64.95, barbour.com; Grenson on the banks of lake Windermere; those wellies again

In short (no pun intended), I think I have found the perfect Wellington boots in my Barbour short wellies. In fact, I’m not sure what I did without them before now. The fact that they’re short means I’ll be wearing them through the summer as well (how good for festivals? Much better with denim cut offs than longer wellies!) and they’ll definitely be coming back to Scotland when we return, as will the long-but-not-too-long pair. Which will be in, like, three months…

This post was in association with Barbour