Puffa Jackets

Puffa the magic Jacket

Several years ago I took my young family off to rural France to work on my Great Unfinished Novel. It's still unfinished, but I learned a lot of good things while living in a stone farmhouse six kilometres from the nearest village. Through a French winter. I learned that you can easily burn 16 tonnes of chestnut on an open fire in two weeks. Wood which you have chopped yourself. I learned that three duvets and three hot water bottles do not a warm bed make. And I learned to love - and I don't use that word lightly - LOVE my trusty Puffa jacket.

It got down below -10C most days, but I braved it. Each morning I'd get up before my wife and nine-month old child and light the fire. Then I'd get dressed and pull on my Puffa and go and chop wood. I can honestly say that the Puffa was the only jacket which I could rely on. My pea coat wasn't up to scratch. My Crombie looked out of place. Even my trusty Woolrich just couldn't keep out the chill. Yes, you can get much more expensive down-filled jackets, but that's the point. Puffas don't break the bank, but they work and they look sweet too. With gilets running at ninety pounds, and the jackets only costing one thirty, a man would have to be some kind of fool not to invest for the dark days ahead.

All the jackets are avialable from House of Fraser and Blacks, and you can look at the whole range on the Puffa website.