LIKE so many of you, unable to be certain of a foreign holiday this year, we booked a staycation.

We were eight adults from four households, with two children; surely, we thought back in January, it will be a perfect, safe break.

Once we had resigned ourselves to the inevitable risk of rain, the challenge of finding good food, the disappointment of the lack of adventure, we put our prejudices aside and paid the deposit. A week in a farmhouse in Angus would be a ‘nice change’, a welcome break, a chance to explore a different area of Scotland. Self-catering, a busman’s holiday you might say.

When the time came, it had to be cancelled. The expected shift to Level 0 didn’t materialise and, reluctantly, we had to stay at home in East Lothian. The staycation was for real. We were going nowhere.

However, our disappointment was short-lived. From the first moment, we had the best holiday ever.

We visited historic houses like Newhailes, partied on deserted beaches, wind-surfed and paddle-boarded off Seacliff. We explored wild woods near Gifford, found hidden gems in Amisfield Walled Garden and old churches at Seton Collegiate at Longniddry, which I drive past three times a week and have never visited. We even visited a real castle I lived two miles beside all my life which I never knew existed!

We climbed aboard the Sula III at North Berwick for an incredible sailing around the Bass Rock. It’s 60 years since I did that!

We cooked and barbecued in each other’s homes and shopped locally with delight: lobsters, lamb, langoustines, beef, vegetables, ice cream, all the highest quality.

And it never rained!

We were amazed. Our eyes were opened to the real richness and delights of our home county. Thanks to the excellent East Lothian tourist bodies and the National Trust for Scotland, we have so many more places yet to discover.

It has made us realise that the grass isn’t greener on the other side – it’s perfectly green right here.