I was enjoying bright winter sunshine the other week – festive luncheon party at a family country retreat. Bearing in mind we were in the middle of winter and it had been seriously frosty for a couple of days, we were all happily toasty warm, revelling in the spectacle of bird watching. Not twitching . . . but watching crowds of greedy blue tits, great tits, robins et al. Our friends have a couple of small fruit trees in the middle of their side lawn and after many years of trial and error with food choices, they now have a massive following from their beaky pals. We were sitting in their summer house – amusingly in mid winter. If ever there was an advert for bringing the garden inside, this was it. A wonderful use of an elaborate wooden cabin essentially – with power, light and easy access to the downstairs cloakroom off the lobby. The broad windows offered uninterrupted viewing and the fantastic upvc triple glazing meant the birds were not put off by our chatter, nearly as noisy and excited as their own!