Whisky, wool and Andy Murray’s luxury estate on a journey across Scotland

We hiked up hills carpeted with heather and thistle and viewed panoramic scenes of the sea and green-hued landscape below. A “Fairy Rain”, as the islanders refer to it, fell gently, laced with the scent of the briny sea.

After a stop at the Lochranza Distillery, where a dram or two of the award-winning Arran Single Malt warmed the cockles of our hearts, off we drove to the majestic Brodick Castle – the former ancestral home of the dukes of Hamilton and the only island country park in all of Britain.

Considered a baronial masterpiece, it is replete with historic art and artefacts and peppered with stories of scandalous intrigues, the dissolute life of one of the heirs a case in point. I must admit, though, that the massive staircase sporting innumerable taxidermy mounts of stags was a wee bit unsettling.

Next was the Bellevue Farm, which stole my heart – specifically Harry the calf, Milly the goat and all five of the alpacas. Not that the rest of the farm’s 60 cows, 200 sheep and 20 goats were not a joy, but bottle feeding each one would have been impossible.