No official engagements on the fourth day of this incredible visit by the relatives of Thomas and Lucy Atkinson to Kazakhstan. It started with a visit to the Kasteyev Museum in the morning, where the delegation was shown Kazakh jewellery, textiles and paintings.

That was followed by a visit to the very rateable Arba winery about 75 kms outside Almaty, where they have resurrected vines that were thought destroyed during the Soviet era as part of an anti-drink campaign. Very good wines – red, white and Rose – that are now making an international name for themselves.

Later, we enjoyed a great outdoor meal in the countryside, alongside a fast-running stream, before an arduous six-hour drive to Taldykorgan in the Zhetiysu region.