"The Future Home Of Public Health England"

Ollie dog and I took her car, an ancient Volvo estate, to a garage near the building above for work on the brakes. MrQ's sight has deteriorated to the point where he can no longer drive, so he couldn't pick us up. We went for a walk while the work was being done. I checked the map and noticed some lakes to the west of the industrial estate, which is surrounded by a metal spiked fence. The garage guy told me of a cut-through as long as I didn't mind thorns. Ollie and I went down a narrow track between two factories and when we emerged at the other end things looked derelict with weeds growing through the concrete. Suddenly this huge white German Shepherd appeared and ran towards us snarling and barking. It launched at Ollie, snapping alarmingly and knocked her over. She hid behind me and I shouted, "Get off!" To my surprise it did and slunk back to where it had come from.

After a number of detours and a long walk we eventually found the lakes. Confrontation again, this time with humans, who lease the lakes and run a fishing business there. Even though a bridleway was clearly marked it was blocked.

The building above is part of the former GSK complex which has been sold to Public Health England for 25m. Planning permission has been granted for a 400m, world-leading, public health campus on the site. Some of the original labs are being retained I'm pleased to say. Our PM said today that that he wants to, ".... make the UK even more welcoming for scientists from abroad."