Lunch hour clinic

It used to be an ugly word for an unpleasant procedure, but suddenly chiropody has been made, dare one say it, glamorous. No longer a simple beauty treatment, chiropodists such as Margaret Dabbs have created a hybrid between beauty treatment and surgical footcare.

Her Foot Health clinics in Weymouth Street and at Harrods have become a huge hit with It-girls and Knightsbridge ladies who spend six months of the year in sandals, and see the benefits of regular, serious footcare of the sort that the average pedicure simply doesn't offer.

Dabbs didn't flinch when I presented her with a pair of feet in a particularly disgusting state after a weekend spent camping, largely barefoot, in a country field. She trimmed my toenails sympathetically and shaped them neatly (most chiropodists simply hack them away, so that there's nothing left to varnish), then excavated the nasty crevices down the side of each nail to prevent the formation of tiny corns.

Among her secret weapons is a concoction called emu oil, a substance used by aborigines for its soothing and healing effect on skin, joints and muscles. It looks alarmingly lardy as it is smoothed on, but sinks rapidly into the skin, so that it gives a moisturising effect without leaving the feet oily.

After 30 minutes, I emerged with toes that wouldn't have looked out of place in a pair of Manolos. An appointment at Margaret Dabbs's Foot Health Clinic takes 30 minutes and costs £55 at the Urban Retreat at Harrods (020 7893 8333).