Big-size shoe shops in Belgium and Netherlands

OK, first port of call is Vanluechene in Roeselare-Rumbeke - they have an astonishing range and will do mail order; however you will need to send them the money first as they don't take credit cards online. They're not cheap but the range is excellent - plenty of boots, ballerina type shoes plus some pretty good work styles too.

Van Wonderen also has a fantastic range, but their online shop seems to be somewhat offline at the moment. They have branches in Antwerp and also in the Netherlands (more on the Netherlands later as it seems to be a mecca for big-footed gals). No prices on the website unfortunately. There is also Stravers Shoes. Their site is a bit of a pain to use in Safari on a mac but you get there in the end. If planning a trip to the Netherlands, there is also Big Shoe - nothing on the website to show you the styles but it looks like they're in the centre of Amsterdam so worth a look I reckon - go up to a 46 from what I can tell.

There is also Caland Shoes in Rotterdam - a great selection, although expensive. From their website it looks like they will ship overseas if you ask nicely, though you'll need to get in touch with them to find out shipping costs and suchlike.

I haven't used any of these sites, they're just what I've found when trawling the internet.

Shoe heaven, shoe hell

While wandering Chiltern Street in London yesterday, I popped in to Totally Shoes, a recent addition to several large size shoe shops that populate the street. Apart from the dreadful typo in their website tagline, they actually have a nice range of shoes, many of which could actually be described as fashionable. Not cheap, but then big shoes rarely are. Anyway, my eyes lighted on a pair of brogue boots by John Fluevog, a Canadian designer. Sadly they were the last pair in the shop (size 8 and just a smidgen too small) but they were so gorgeous that I've been trawling the web all morning trying to find them elsewhere. No joy. They must be a previous season's or something. Gutted. However, I was made up to discover that not only does John Fluevog ship to the UK, he also does his shoes and boots up to a size 10 (US 12) - very impressed with the range of very fashionable styles (fans of Vivienne Westwood will approve).

I also had a look in Magnus Shoes, where I found a lovely pair of brown flat boots. Thwarted again, as they only had them in a size 10 (12 US) and none in their Hampstead shop either. I need to call their mail order folks and find out if there are any left in the warehouse. I also tried Crispins Shoes and Elephant Feet, but no joy there either - Crispins generally have a great range but they are pricey. Elephant Feet had a fairly limited range and many of their styles come up quite wide - no good for my narrow, long feet.

So in the end I bit the bullet and ordered the boots I'd seen in a German online shop - Schuh Kaufmann - according to a contributor on Janine Dalton's blog, this company has bought many of the large-size shoe companies in Germany and so can offer good deals on shoes. It's not cheap, but they do ship overseas (not sure about outside Europe). The site is all in German but you can muddle through easily enough.