Creating a buzz for 2010,  Meindl’s new Respond XCR is available in a mid-boot or shoe version. The Respond XCR combines Meindl’s quality craftsmanship with the latest technology to produce footwear which is lightweight, durable and guaranteed to be 100% waterproof.

Priced at £99.99, the Respond XCR shoe provides extreme lightweight comfort while enjoying the outdoors due to its Gore-Tex lining. The Contagrip sole unit offers excellent heel stabilisation and superb durability for everyday use, while the additional toe rand offers protection to the forefoot and is 100% waterproof. Available in two colourways, sizes 3.5 – 8 women and 6 – 12 men, both the male and female styles are also available in half sizes.

Visitors to Dartmoor are often amazed by the ponies roaming at will over the Moor. “Are the ponies wild?” they ask. No, and if you get close enough to them, and it is possible to get close because some of the ponies have been tamed by tourists feeding them, you can often see a brand on the pony’s flank.

A brand on the rump. “H” for Hunter ? The brand signifies ownership, ownership by one of the hill farmers on the Moor who are Commoners so have grazing rights for sheep, cattle and ponies on the Common – rather in the manner people used to have rights to graze sheep and geese on the village Common.

By coincidence my Regatta Lady Husky boots arrived just before the cold snap and when everyone else was diving inside to order winter heating oil, bleed the radiators and turning up the central heating, I was calmly walking over fields with frosted grass crunching under my feet. The boots passed the first test of a claim by the makers, that the boots are ideal for snowy and icy conditions.

Aussie Soles, a company started in Australia in 2003, now has distribution representation for it's popular footwear products in the UK and Ireland.