8 years we have lived here and still there are new routes to explore from home. True, there are not many dedicated cycle paths but then I tell our guests that they could sit in the middle of many of the minor roads here and read a book cover to cover without needing to move.

A sunny day and not too cold and a new water filter to test and some recently ground coffee and we were outside the door on rather wonderful new gravel bikes. We had the perfect plan and it was time to Carpe Diem.

Thornhill has the wow factor of Drumlanrig Castle, the Pink Palace home in the south west to the Duke of Buccleuch. But it is one of the areas less well known sons, a humble blacksmith that we have been focusing some attention over the winter months.

Tradition demands that, as symbols of purity, snowdrops first appear on 2nd of February to coincide with Candlemas, the Christian Feast of Purification. Nothing suggests that snowdrops could be up before year’s end in Scotland. But our finger of rock sticks out into the Irish Sea, and is warmly embraced by the gulf stream.

Trees have had golden fringes for a few weeks and are now rusting more and dropping their first leaves. Still days to sit on the lawn and soak up the warmth of the day, but an evening by the fire pit will need a jacket. The first geese unseen in the dark of late evening walks, the swallows third broods just fledged and all thinking of heading south.

We put it off for weeks and just practised on the village green, but the day had to come. We were just going to have a practice run, no pressure. Everything we do with our business has to be perfect so this new medium has to be good. We took the bikes to the Water of Fleet viaduct and started to ride and film.

For years this area has been known as a mountain biking destination. But with hundreds of square miles of forest, coastal paths and farm tracks this is now a world class destination for gravel and adventure cycling. Don’t take our word for it, Red Bull love gravel too and featured us in their top 9 UK rides.

All of the films get across the remote feel of this area with a very special feel all of its own that is lumpy and pointy enough to be the highlands but has a romantic coastline of tucked away harbours that would not look out of place in Cornwall.

Some of the oldest May Day traditions are connected with dew. According to folklore, the dew on 1 May has magical properties and anyone who washes their face in it will have a flawless complexion for the entire year.

I scrape porridge bits out for the birds before daybreak and there is more than a hint of a dawn chorus. Quite clearly it is now dark at well after 4 when it was often not much beyond 3. On a good day you can ride a bike till almost 5 though you would not have cast a shadow for quite a while.