Purple Heather in Bonnie Dundee

Early last September my wife and I went on a Heather hunt in the hills around upper Tayside but found that they had finished flowering a few weeks previously. We were disappointed not to see the hills covered in Heather, but the views were wonderful none the less.
What I didn't expect was that we would have Heather flowering through our winter in our own garden (we only moved here in the last couple of years). Apparently, this is 'Erica carnea (winter heath, winter flowering heather' and certainly brings a very welcome colour at this time of year.