Snow beautiful

 If like me you've been a bit guilty of thinking 'not snow already!' this image by young Cromarty photographer Caitlin Alexander is a good reminder of just how beautiful our wintry weather can look.

The cold weather hasn't been quite so useful for Laing Traditional Masonry Ltd who had been hoping to get the coping stones onto the boundary wall before winter really set in. 

Inside the church conservation work has begun on the painted pew panels in the north loft. These are thought to date from the 1600s, and are ornately painted. Many years of varnish layers has left them darkened, with the designs becoming more and more difficult to see. 

Fiona Allardyce and Karen Dundas of Scottish Wall Paintings Conservators are paintstakingly removing the varnish layers and, as you'll see in the photographs, the change is quite remarkable.

Fiona and Karen have also worked on the fragments of the 1702 armorial panels for Sir Kenneth Mackenzie and his wife Anne Campbell. You can find out more about this work on the worksite page. We'll also be bringing you updates - once better weather allows their work to continue.