Pictures of the past.

This is the Colintraive Heritage Centre , which I was fortunate enough to be asked to open when I was Culture Minister, during the last Year of Homecoming in 2009.

I am surprised I haven't blipped it before as the outside decoration is very arresting, coming on it as one does opposite the village hall on a quiet road just past the Colintraive Hotel which leads past a few dozen houses to (after a few miles) a fine view of the mouth of Loch Striven and the Kyles of Bute, but which then comes to an end at the loch shore.

The contents are also intriguing and well put together and include a couple of pictures of my house when it was a working farm , as well as the place which grew most of the soft fruit for the area.

There are a few such heritage centres around Argyll and they are always worth a visit though they ten to only be open in the summer and not on a clear, brisk and for once dry late winter afternoons.