

A few days before Christmas I rented a car, drove up to coastal Massachusetts and took the ferry to Nantucket Island. The freezing cold had driven away all the tourists and we had the place just about to ourselves. The mansions glowed with Christmas lights and a thin layer of snow covered the sandy beachfronts. After a bracing stroll around the town, we escaped the chill in a cosy coffee shop and watched last minute shoppers dash around the festive High Street.