You’ll be safe from trick-or-treaters in a grand home at the end of a long driveway or a Grade II-listed farmhouse tucked away in a hamlet

Loch Insh, Cairngorms: In my three decades in Scotland I’ve adjusted to the darkness of this time of year, and found glory in the quality of light

It is the one clear day in a fortnight of heavy cloud, wind and rain, so I am out by the loch, basking in the rays of light, breathing them in, hoarding for the weeks to come.

This time of year makes them all the more precious. Here in the Highlands, once we are past the autumnal equinox, we can almost feel the Earth tipping away from the sun as the light grows shorter each day and the night steals back. It’s a turn that is especially obvious when the clocks change and our evenings are suddenly dark.