Isle of May lighthouse open days - step back in time at the Beacon.

 Nowhere in Scotland has a lighthouse heritage like the Isle of May. And much of this is down to the Beacon, Scotland's first lighthouse and still standing 378 years after it was built, if in a reduced statue. It worked as a lighthouse for 180 years and has been witness to brutally hard work for the early lighthouse men to get the ton of coal needed a night from the harbour to the tower top, and tragedy when the lighthouse keeper, his wife and 5 of his 6 children died in the building. When you go in you can get a taste of human contact with the building, the huge ancient studded door, a coal blackened walls and steps in the entrance, the grand fireplace. But for me the best connection with the past is when you sit on the doorstep and filter out the more modern buildings at the edges of the view and take in an unchanged vista that lighthouse keepers and their families must have looked upon all those years ago. Would you like to sit on the doorstep? Well this weekend is you one opportunity this year as it is the Isle of May lighthouse weekend when all of the island lighthouse buildings are open. So take a step back in time wearing a lighthouse keepers shoes and come over to the island.

 The mainlight willalso be open for the lighthouse open days.