Newbattle Abbey.

This is the main entrance and the central portion of the Newbattle Abbey facade, some of the rest was obscured by nasty motor cars but, I'll be back there on Sunday so will see if I can get the whole lot, un-obscured. There is plenty of scope in the grounds, and even inside the building, for future blips.

I had an appointment with the factor of the abbey this morning. It was an attempt to establish where we stand with regard to upgrading the cottage loaned to us (the Newbattle Beekeeping Association) by them. Ideally, we want to restore electricity, heating and water so that we can use it for meetings, have a workshop area and a laboratory for dissection and microscopy. But it seems we're barking up the wrong tree. They won't give us any sort of lease on the property which prevents us from applying for improvement grants. It's not all bad news, they are offering us secure storage for expensive microscopes and cameras inside the abbey and temporary lab space whenever needed (as in the janitor will set up and dismantle the equipment for us, but we wouldn't let him near the optical stuff). They're actually giving us a heck of a lot and all that they're asking in return is that we give their students access to our classes and lectures, so I'm not really complaining. They did suggest work-arounds, such as a stand pipe for water and a petrol generator for limited electrical supply; it would be nice if we could get the loo working, some of the older gentlemen (beekeeping is a disease of the elderly) are likely to have "men's problems."