[Gifted for Review]

There is nothing worse than getting out of the sea on a cold day. You pop out for a nice, refreshing winter swim, because ‘outdoor swimming is the new thing’ (you know this because you saw people doing it on the ‘gram). Suddenly, you get out of the water and that air temperature hits you, making you question all of your life choices in a fit of teeth chattering misery. You drag yourself out of the sea, wondering why you didn’t bring a flask of tea and try to peel off your swim kit, whilst holding up a towel to preserve what dignity you have left, in some kind of weird beach shuffle that wouldn’t look amiss in the finals of Strictly.

Sound familiar?

Thankfully, the wonderful folks at Dryrobe have come up with a solution.

You may have spotted people wearing these at events like Tough Mudder, or on every surfing beach in the West Country, and with good reason. They’re an incredibly simple concept, but an absolute game changer. The idea? You can both dry off and get changed within the comfort of your cosy, hooded Dryrobe. I have a towel version of this for poolside, but was kindly sent their slightly more heavy duty version, the Dryrobe Advance, to review, and I am a huge fan.

Not just for those moments you need to get changed, sans shuffle dance, though that’s what it was designed for – it’s comfortable enough to just sit around in at the beach, when camping, or whilst waiting around at sporting events… You can even throw it on over your wetsuit, if you’ll be in and out of the water all day.

It’s long & roomy enough to be able to sit on the beach with knees inside too, like a personal, wearable tent! This is a size medium and there is plenty of room! After a swim across Lake Montriond it was perfect for getting changed!

The Dryrobe Advance is warm, with a cosy fabric lining, which can be used multiple times without becoming sodden and has a two way zip. On top of this, the hood fits well, isn’t too large, there are two lined pockets on the outside, which zip up, and there’s even another pocket inside, as well as a waterproof one, with headphone loop, for those all important beachfront adventure tunes!

It definitely isn’t the smallest of products to carry round with you, but you can stuff it fairly well into a compression sack and it only weighs 1.3kg. The Dryrobe Advance comes in a short or long sleeve version, in 11 colours – one of which is bound to match your kit, as we all know secretly that’s important – and sells for £110 – here.

It has earned a permanent place in my kit bag, as I’m one of those people who always ends up heading for a spontaneous post work adventure, rather than a planned one, and it means I can go out for the chilliest of winter swims, knowing that the equivalent of a warm hug is waiting ashore and, whilst I won’t be getting the nod for strictly any time soon, I’m ok with that…