Caithness mill renewals show a positive future for heart and soul of county
Northern Drift by Monique Sliedrecht
I visited the newly renovated John O’Groats Mill last weekend and was happy to see many local people enjoying the transformation of the spaces and the reinstatement of all the mechanics in full working order!
Amazing when one considers how long the building has been empty. Spirits were high and people were very supportive of the new lease of life given to this historic building.
Further down the road another mill is being beautifully restored and re-purposed as a distillery, becoming a landmark on the edge of Castletown.
These are gifts to the county and a sign of hope – something new being made of something old. They are meeting places. In our day and age, this is an encouragement and celebration of heritage, culture, and a truly positive way forward.
Now, how about all those other derelict stone crofts and cottages? What potential! (Time for the UK government to remove VAT on the restoration of ruined houses!)
In the close vicinity of both these memorable buildings is a natural channel of water leading to the sea, which points on a wider scale to great gifts of our environment – something we often take for granted. Yet, the sea sustains some of the largest carbon store for us to survive, and it houses an incredible array of unusual and fantastic creatures, some of which have only been discovered and seen for the first time in the last few years.
It shows the endless flow of imagination in our world, and the mystery that still remains.
The film Ocean, which I saw a couple of weeks ago, portrays this beautifully and is a wonderful overview of this part of our earth which takes up more than 70 per cent of the globe. Through advancing technology of recent years, scientists have come to learn much more about the hidden depths and the creatures that dwell there.
The film is deeply poignant and convicting too, as it points to growing exploitation of the oceans and the extension of machines to scour the sea bed. In the face of this, David Attenborough shares a message of hope and inspiration in the context of the grand-scale devastation, bringing our attention to the various restorative projects currently under way, for example in the “no-take zones” at Lamlash Bay on Arran’s east coast and the Great Barrier Reef, Australia, protecting sea grass meadows in Plymouth and reintroducing oysters in the Dornoch Firth.
These may seem small, but as we gain greater knowledge, we will develop a deeper care and work together towards the restoration of our oceans. This, in turn, will support humanity as a whole. A grand statement, perhaps, but very true.
What small decisions can we make in our everyday lives that could contribute to the restoration of our world?
Often we refer to the restoration of external objects or surroundings, but what about our inner landscape, the human soul? The external and internal are connected very closely, but we can put our attentions on one whilst neglecting the other, to our peril. To live fully, our inner lives need nurturing and reflection.
Our disordered inner ecosystem can sometimes devastate the natural world beyond, as we see in the human greed which dredges the ocean floor with thousands of acres of mindless destruction of the most beautiful living forms. It has been customary to say that the world’s biggest threat is climate change, but it would be fair to argue that the world’s biggest threat is actually human and material obsession, rapacious greed which creates environmental disaster.
Another film I saw was The Salt Path with Gillian Anderson, based on the book by Raynor Winn.
At a time of illness, upheaval and financial disaster, Raynor and Moth take the brave and unusual decision to embark on a healing journey, two homeless people walking the southwest coast path. Their story is an example of the external and internal worlds coming together as husband and wife walk through incredible surroundings; a walk which changes the landscape of their hearts, restores their perspective and places value on the things that matter most.
They discover what it is to be truly alive and in harmony with nature.
• Monique Sliedrecht is an artist and blogger based at Freswick. Visit her blog at www.moniquesliedrecht.com