Duckly

Old friends, Tom and Lesley, joined us for a couple of nights at Duchally Country Estates in Perthshire where we have been staying in one of the lodges this week. The weather has been amazingly good. We had aperitifs on the terrace last night, and breakfast al fresco this morning. After our morning walk - the fifth consecutive daily walk I have made in glorious sunshine - we stopped to watch the ducks in a tree-ringed pond.

I discovered last night that I had been pronouncing the name of the place quite wrong. It's pronounced "Duckly" - maybe because there are so many ducks around.

Tomorrow we pack up and head for Edinburgh, where I have a sell-out event at the Edinburgh Book Festival tomorrow evening.