It's hard to fully describe the feeling I get when I visit Scotland and the Highlands. There's always a natural pull for me to spend time there, just being outdoors. I have family roots there so it feels strangely homely even though I've never lived in Scotland.

I don't know much about my heritage other than I have a couple of distant relatives still in the Orkney Islands. My Nan has told me stories of her family catching lobsters and storing them in the basement, and shown me old photographs of days where there was no wind and the washing on the line was hanging vertically—a normal sight for most people, but a novelty for those on Orkney.

The Scottish are a hardy people, a trait I don't think I have. I've grown up in the South of England with warm weather and creature comforts, something you don't get very often in the depths of the Highlands.