AS Scotland shivered, the coldest place of all was Altnaharra, a hamlet in the Highlands.
An early-morning temperature reading of -23C shot the group of 20 houses and a hotel in the middle of Sutherland into the national spotlight yesterday.
The village lies 23 miles North of Lairg on the single-track road to Tongue, on Sutherland's north coast.
Yesterday, postmistress Lesley Wilkie told how she, her farm manager husband Alan, and youngsters Gillian and Keith feared they would not make it home when the fierce blizzards struck on Christmas Eve after a shopping trip to Lairg.
However, super-chilled temperatures are nothing new to self-made Scots millionaire Jim Gray, 55, who owns the 36,000-acre Altnaharra Estate, which gives year-round employment to Alan Wilkie and to two gamekeepers.
Mr Gray is joint founder of Gray and Adams, the company based in Fraserburgh, Aberdeenshire, Britain's leading manufacturer of freezer lorry trailers.
His company, which he started from scratch in 1957, now employs 300 at their Fraserburgh factory, while a further 300 work at their manufacturing plants in Dunfermline, Yorkshire, and Northern Ireland.
Mr Gray said: ``Minus 23? There's nothing new about that for me. That is exactly the temperature at which the articulated wagons we make carry frozen food from Europe to supermarkets throughout Britain.''
He bought the Altnaharra Estate from Lord Kimball, formerly Tory MP Sir Marcus Kimball last year ``as a place for a bit of relaxation away from business pressures''.
Although he lives at Memsie, near Fraserburgh, the self-made tycoon frequently travels to Altnaharra for salmon angling.
There are eight youngsters at single classroom Altnaharra school run by under headmistress Mrs Anne Mackay.
The 20-bedroom Altnaharra Hotel has recently been completely refurbished by its Danish owners Anne and Daniel Tuscher.
Postie Alistair Mackay brings the mail to Altnaharra every day from Lairg around lunchtime and he also delivers milk and daily newspapers to the folk in the scattered community.
Altnaharra was luckier than many other remote communities in that its power supply was only cut for eight hours on Christmas Eve.
Mr Wilkie looks after the hill farm with its flock of 1200 sheep. There are also around 100 arable acres close to the village, which supports a herd of Irish cattle.
The Wilkies have been in Altnaharra for three years. Previously, Alan worked on a farm at Insch, Aberdeenshire. Lesley's pride and joy are her three horses - a thoroughbred mare, a prize-winning Connemara pony, and a Shetland pony.
Yesterday, she said: ``This is definitely the coldest weather I have ever experienced. It is bitter but the sun is shining and thankfully there is hardly any wind, so it is bearable. Living in Altnaharra took a bit of getting used to but we are all very h
appy here now, despite all the frost and snow.''
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