I’m lying on my bed, hidden under a wave of duvets — the perfect antidote to the chilly conditions transforming the Kilkenny landscape into a magical, frost-covered wonderland. Moments after turning on the lamp, I suddenly hear a gentle rat-tat-tat somewhere — outside, I discover a robin clinging onto the wisteria that covers this Georgian manor. Like a certain Shakespearean lothario, he stares at me as if questioning what light through yonder window breaks.