Is £25 a lot for wellies?

[itsgettingweird]

I've always brought cheap £10/15 Dunlop (or similar make) wellies but find them very wide and not easy for long walks.

The supermarket 'fashion' wellies often rub, wear out really quickly and don't tend to have any ability to keep warmth in.

I've been coveting a pair of pink wellies I've seen in my local garden centre for ages. They are Briers (or something) and have a thin lining as opposed to just plastic.

They are shaped but still sensible width and shape.

But they are £25.

I need wellies as ankle deep mud here!

Anyone experience of this make or of expensive wellies that aren't from supermarkets - are they worth the money?

I'd have a hunt a see if you can find ones with neoprene lining ( like wetsuit) . Our garden centre has them at £29 in sale and they are life changing 😀

Muck boots here too, I would never go back to wellies. I live rurally and it's so muddy here just now so they have been invaluable when out with the dog. They're really warm, waterproof and so comfortable. Did an 8 mile walk yesterday and if I'd done that in wellies my feet would have been in agony. They're expensive but if you wait for a sale you can get them for around £50 but they last for years.

I wear joules. They are about £40. Last a year or so. I do wear them a lot.

My £65 Hunter wellies are still going strong 10 years after I bought them. I think I'll get another 10 years put of them too. They don't keep my feet warm though regardless of my sock choices. I've now got walking boots what a revelation! Waterproof, warm, comfy and tied around the ankles, I can walk for miles!

I have those Le Chameau neoprene lined ones. They were an xmas gift 13 years ago and aside from two winters where they didn't get so much use (no dog or horse riding!) they've been used almost daily in colder weather. They look almost as new, keep my feet toasty warm and the tread is excellent. They were much cheaper back then but still expensive. Worth every (gifted) penny on a cost per use scale.

I also have those Dubarry leather ones (xmas gift 16 years ago). They've just gone off to be resoled. They are wearable in more situations than the wellies but not as warm or sturdy.

I buy my children Hunter wellies each season and in the sale they are £30. So no, £25 for adult wellies is not expensive.

I needed some wellies for the same reason you do and found some comfortable ones at a garden centre. I tried on loads of brands, including Hunter and Muck boots, both of which rubbed my heels, then found some Town and Country ones that fit really comfortably. I did a 4.5 mile walk in them yesterday in very muddy conditions, and they were perfect.

I can't comment on their longevity yet though.

I'll check the lining. Thanks that's good advice.

They sell various types so I'll get the best ones I can if the ones I've seen don't have that type of lining.

Payday today and no swimming fees to pay for ds (he's a proper swimmer so that's £££££s!) and nowhere else to spend my money I'm happy to invest.

I bought my hunters for £50 in 2000. Still fabulous. Mind you, I also bought a pair from b&q a couple of years later (it was rare in those days to find size 3s designed for adult sized calves). Much cheaper and they're also still going strong.

@Ginfordinner

I needed some wellies for the same reason you do and found some comfortable ones at a garden centre. I tried on loads of brands, including Hunter and Muck boots, both of which rubbed my heels, then found some Town and Country ones that fit really comfortably. I did a 4.5 mile walk in them yesterday in very muddy conditions, and they were perfect.

I can't comment on their longevity yet though.

I had T&C ones from the garden centre (possibly rye sane garden centre, I believe Gin you are local ish to me) , which saw pretty extensive use for 3 or 4 years until the rubber split. I used them pretty much everyday from September to April in that time and they lived outside. Not bad for the price at all.

Good to hear it @BikeRunSki. I bought them in Northumberland, but I saw them on sale at Wentworth Garden Cantre last week. It's too muddy here even for walking boots just now.

@MacDuffsMuff I keep looking for Muckboots in the sale but there's nothing at the moment! Unless you're a size 12

Yeah walking boots won't cut here either!

Yesterday I had to jump over too fallen trees after the hurricane strength winds the other day (south coast) and mud was ankle deep and water isn't draining either.

It's also 1°c!

My waking bouts are holding up brilliantly they are totally waterproof, warm, comfy, can walk miles and miles in them. The mud is ridiculous at the moment but they are still coping.

Can't stand cold feet in wellies! I've got hunters which were lot more than £25 and I never wear them now.

Cheap for wellies. My dc wellies cost about £30-£50 on average. I think I paid about £50 in the sales for mine.

@maverickallthetime You can sometimes get good deals on them in the bigger garden centres. Not as much choice but let's face it, they're not glamour-wear regardless of which ones you choose. I do love them though!

Terry Pratchett puts it beautifully:

“The reason that the rich were so rich, Vimes reasoned, was because they managed to spend less money.

"Take boots, for example. He earned thirty-eight dollars a month plus allowances. A really good pair of leather boots cost fifty dollars. But an affordable pair of boots, which were sort of OK for a season or two and then leaked like hell when the cardboard gave out, cost about ten dollars. Those were the kind of boots Vimes always bought, and wore until the soles were so thin that he could tell where he was in Ankh-Morpork on a foggy night by the feel of the cobbles.

"But the thing was that good boots lasted for years and years. A man who could afford fifty dollars had a pair of boots that'd still be keeping his feet dry in ten years' time, while the poor man who could only afford cheap boots would have spent a hundred dollars on boots in the same time and would still have wet feet.

"This was the Captain Samuel Vimes 'Boots' theory of socioeconomic unfairness.”

@UnaOfStormhold, so true!!

Went to garden centre. Not neoprene centered and weren't that comfortable so I didn't get them.

Local Homebase only had cheapy material non lined boots - which I already have for playground duty!

So I think I'll look online. I've heard lots about hunters wellies so that maybe the way to go?

Very good price

Una so true. I'm the single mum who once had £25 a week to feed ds and I. Worked hard and can now afford more expensive items but it's hard to switch to that spending more and lasting longer as my mind still goes cheap - keep money in bank.

2 years ago I splashed out £70 on a Peter storm parked coat in the sales. I felt guilty for ages. 2 years on it still looks like new and is a godsend when out at 5.30am or 10pm because of ds swimming.

I am learning about false economy but it's a very weird mindset to get into.

Hunters are nice but a lot more expensive than £25 OP!

You might get some in the sale or TK Maxx have them

can I just say that wellies are nearly always cold. It is hard to have warm feet in wellies.
One tip is to buy proper thick wellie/walkign socks and wear them over your own socks and buy wellies ot fit that.
years ago I got tsome fishing socks, they had extra thick soles, and arereally warm!

No given some too end are several hundred. But of course if 25 is too expensive for you (right now or ever) then yes they are astronomical.

That's mega cheap, I pay about £200 a pair but I wear them every day, at least twice a day.