Cafe Thyme, Arran.

Many of you will remember from news coverage the appalling time the Isle of Arran had as winter bit hard and late. Although the whole island was cut off from mains electricity for many days because of scores of toppled pylons, it was the stretch of east coast from south of Blackwaterfoot to Lochranza and round the north end which had the horrendous snowfall too.

Perhaps later you saw the amazing film coverage of this beautiful island from above, and are thinking you must visit ... now the snow has gone!

This is the view from the wonderful Cafe Thyme, just north of Machrie. Now fully in the swing, it's a brilliant place for coffee or lunch. Today we enjoyed pides (Turkish pizza), delicious puddings and two huge coffees each for £15 a head. Not only value for money but a superb menu, great service and a location with this blip as its view. This is the Kilbrannan Sound looking south. In the middle you can see a SSE helicopter ferrying yet more replacement poles up into the hills from a huge pile still remaining at the storage point near the road.

If you're visiting Arran, as we do hope you will be, this is a lovely place to eat on the east coast ... and there's a terrific new kids' play area too.