Pluscarden Abbey, just outside Elgin in northeast Scotland, is one of the most beautiful places in Britain. But to those who have visited in winter over the years, it has also felt like one of the coldest. After the war, when Benedictine monks arrived to restore what was a medieval ruin they slept with no roof, let alone heating. Then came the paraffin burners, which gave the monks a choice between freezing and asphyxiation. Central heating arrived in 1980 (it’s needed, if your day starts with prayers at 4.30am) but it was used sparingly. But when I went to visit last month I found a miracle had happened. There is a biomass boiler – pictured, above – which means they can not only afford to heat the place, but actually make a profit in so doing.
Brother Michael De Klerk sums it up beautifully:
‘We had an outlay of between £300,000 to £350,000 to install everything for the biomass boiler.
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