Since the sale of our beautiful Georgian flat in Edinburgh, we were staying in a cramped modern, windowless, flat in a rough part of Bristol. This would be a temporary arrangement until we found a new home more to our tastes in Clifton.

What had prompted us to moved house? Why had left our home of 30+ years with its gorgeous garden, our friends, and easy access to the Scottish highlands and islands?

Bristol offered slightly warmer (but wetter) weather, and a shorter distance to family in West Sussex, but that was all. What a huge mistake we had made in moving south.