I don’t get Nordic noir (The Bridge bored me rigid and after 10 minutes of Trapped, I wanted to bludgeon myself with a block of ice) and I’m not a massive fan of Ikea, but oh my goodness, have I found my Scandi calling in the Danish concept of hygge.

Maybe calling is the wrong word. It’s my – raison d’etre, my niche, my mindset. It’s the thing I’ve been adhering to my whole life, without realising it was actually a thing.

Hygge, pronounced hoo-gah, is about – well, what is it about? On a grand scale it’s about living the simple life, enjoying the moment, illuminating the soul. It’s what makes Danish people the happiest in the world.

On a more ordinary level, it’s about mugs of tea, hot baths, woolly socks, hearty suppers around the kitchen table and family board games. It is, in fact, my house on a wintry Saturday night.

If you don’t know much about hygge, you are about to be surrounded by it, with at least half a dozen new books on the subject being published this autumn.

One of them has been written by Meik Wiking, the CEO of the Happiness Research Institute in Copenhagen, which sounds like a truly excellent place to work. Let’s face it, if you’re going to work for an independent think tank, that’s the independent think tank to work for.

So be prepared - there will be guides to hygger up your home, your office, your life. Hygge experts will tell you how to create a hyggekrog, which items are more higgeligt than others and how to be a hyggelig fir.

The truth is, though, I think most of us probably ‘get’ hygge without all the hoohah.

And it’s not just about that feeling of returning to a warm house after a brisk walk in the autumn air; or the comfort of wandering around your home at dusk on winter’s evening, closing curtains and lighting lamps knowing everyone is safe inside; or snuggling down in a cosy corner with a book, Billy Connolly-style ‘big slipper’ on your tootsies; or rewarding yourself with treats (not too lavish, though - think marshmallows in your hot chocolate, rather than oysters and champagne.)

At the heart of it all is a desire to be warm and secure and happy, and in these fractured, hectic, unsettling times, that’s what more and more of us want, isn’t it? It’s not that radical an idea, really – that we might seek solace in the simple things and find that actually, they do matter most.

Before you rush out to John Lewis for a handful of scatter cushions and some scented candles, be aware that hygge is not about stuff. It’s about the opposite of stuff, in fact – it’s about giving pause, slowing down, taking time to live in the moment.

I’m all for that. Carry on, then, everyone - I’m off to my hyggekrog, hot chocolate in hand and don't skimp on the marshmallows...