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The Scottish Parliament Building (Scottish Gaelic: Parlamaid na h-Alba) is the home of the Scottish Parliament at Holyrood, within the UNESCO World Heritage Site in central Edinburgh. Construction of the building commenced in June 1999 and the Members of the Scottish Parliament (MSPs) held their first debate in the new building on 7 September 2004. The formal opening by Queen Elizabeth took place on 9 October 2004. Enric Miralles, the Catalan architect who designed the building, died before its completion.

From 1999 until the opening of the new building in 2004, committee rooms and the debating chamber of the Scottish Parliament were housed in the General Assembly Hall of the Church of Scotland located on The Mound in Edinburgh. The access to this facility was via a new glazed porch, discreetly placed in the SW corner of Mylne's Court off the Lawnmarket in the midst of some of the University of Edinburgh's Hall of Residences. All traces of this porch were eradicated, and the west wall where it stood returned to a blank wall, immediately after the new parliament opened. Office and administrative accommodation in support of the Parliament were provided in buildings leased from the City of Edinburgh Council. The new Scottish Parliament Building brought together these different elements into one purpose-built parliamentary complex, housing 129 MSPs and more than 1,000 staff and civil servants.

From the outset, the building and its construction have been controversial. The choices of location, architect, design, use of non-indigenous materials (granite from China instead of Scotland), and construction company were all criticised by politicians, the media and the Scottish public.Scheduled to open in 2001,[8] it did so in 2004, more than three years late with an estimated final cost of ?414 million, many times higher than initial estimates of between ?10m and ?40m. A major public inquiry into the handling of the construction, chaired by the former Lord Advocate, Peter Fraser, was established in 2003. The inquiry concluded in September 2004 and criticised the management of the whole project from the realisation of cost increases down to the way in which major design changes were implemented. Despite these criticisms and a mixed public reaction, the building was welcomed by architectural academics and critics. The building aims to conceive a poetic union between the Scottish landscape, its people, its culture, and the city of Edinburgh. This approach won the parliament building numerous awards including the 2005 Stirling Prize and has been described as "a tour de force of arts and crafts and quality without parallel in the last 100 years of British architecture"

Eyemouth (historically spelt Aymouth; Scottish Gaelic: Inbhir Eighe[1]) is a small town and parish in Berwickshire in the Scottish Borders. It is two miles (3 km) east of the main north-south A1 road and just 8 miles (13 km) north of Berwick-upon-Tweed. It has a population of circa 3,420 people (2004).

The town's name comes from its location at the mouth of the Eye Water. The Berwickshire coastline consists of high cliffs over deep clear water with sandy coves and picturesque harbours. A fishing port, Eyemouth celebrates an annual Herring Queen Festival. Notable buildings in the town include Gunsgreen House and a cemetery watch house built to stand guard against the Resurrectionists (body snatchers). Many of the features of a traditional fishing village are preserved in the narrow streets and vennels - giving shelter from the sea and well suited to the smuggling tradition of old.

Eyemouth is not far from the attractive small villages of Ayton, Reston, St. Abbs, Coldingham, and Burnmouth. The coast offers opportunities for birdwatching, walking, fishing and diving. Accommodation includes several hotels, B&Bs, and a holiday park. The geology of the area exposes the evidence of folding that led James Hutton to announce that the surface of the earth had changed dramatically over the ages.