We often have enquiries to come on our holidays that end with a sentence that will go something like “ what weeks do you have the best weather? “ I thought of this over the New Year as we rode along the coast road beyond Kirkcudbright. “ This is better than a summer ride “. I said it out loud as the sun was shining, almost zero wind and perhaps I was on a festive high.

Tradition demands that, as symbols of purity, snowdrops first appear on 2nd of February to coincide with Candlemas, the Christian Feast of Purification. Nothing suggests that snowdrops could be up before year’s end in Scotland. But our finger of rock sticks out into the Irish Sea, and is warmly embraced by the gulf stream.