Category: Tales from Pond Cottage (Page 1 of 7)

Windpower, wildlife, water and woodland gardening

'There was something about the place' The derelict cottage framed by trees and wild roses — There was something about the place

Mud pies and memories of freedom

April 18, 2025 / fay / 4 Comments

Open the door and there’s a big green velvet curtain to keep the living room warm, in granny’s bedroom a pretty dressing table set decorated with pink – maybe purple? – flowers. A potty tucked discreetly under the bed.

No bathroom. The toilet is outside in a whitewashed washhouse. At bedtime the grandchildren are marched dutifully across with a big red torch until a rabbit appears in the field on the other side of the hedge. And they’re off…

“Freedom! That’s what it was. Freedom to do what we wanted.”

Memories fill the room. Memories and laughter with three grown women, Mary, Anne and Marian, sitting round a table in a room that didn’t exist on their weekend visits to their grandparents at Pond Cottage more than 60 years ago. [Press play to join them.]

A close up look at green shoots of bluebells at Pond Cottage

A gift of hope

March 31, 2025 / fay / 0 Comments

Green shoots of hope – I’ve just had a lovely message from a generous man, a rare philanthropist, who is offering to match the money we raise this year for CHAS (Children’s Hospices Across Scotland) through our Scotland’s Gardens Scheme openings.

He means it, he was so impressed by what he learned about CHAS when he visited The Pond Garden two years ago he made a three figure donation. With your support we can help him give more this year.

Galanthus “Trumps” at Pond Cottage

February 25, 2025 / fay / 0 Comments

Here we are. At the start of our visiting season I’m not in the best of moods but I stop reading the news to take a walk round the garden and I can’t help smiling when I find the snowdrop given by a dear, gardening friend last year. Perky, eye catching, Galanthus “Trumps” could do with a new name, I think, but what a beauty.

A view across the tree-line to the snow capped summit This Creative Commons image of the Sagarmatha National Park is By © Vyacheslav Argenberg CC by 4.0

A Himalayan birch for Ronnie

December 31, 2024 / fay / 4 Comments

“I just enjoy being among the mountains, that’s good enough, I don’t need to get to the top…” Ronnie Faux, born Burnley 8 November 1935, died Carlisle 16 July 2024.

Before this turbulent 2024 ends, there’s still just time to add one more tree story. We have planted a Himalayan birch in memory of our dear friend Ronnie Faux. It seems a good match for an adventurer who enjoyed clinging to rocky ridges in snowy places.

Close encounter with a dragon fly in the veg garden at Pond Cottage: a Common Darter according to Bug Life

Plants, pollinators, people: welcome to the Pond Garden

September 3, 2024 / fay / 0 Comments

Autumn on the horizon. Will we know the difference? It has felt like October for much of the summer this year. But today a mischievous sun peeks through fluffy clouds (such flirts!) and in the garden I find a buzz of pollinators partying among the plants. Great opportunists. True survivors. Perhaps they can help me plot a course for 2025.

Close encounters with birds: our best start to the day

July 16, 2024 / fay / 0 Comments

Up with the lark? Sadly, after a week of waking before the alarm went off, this morning we slept in. By the time I poked my head out the front door George and Ben had been at work for an hour. Early birds, of course! These very nice young BTO volunteers are here to count and ring Pond Cottage songbirds. And, oh, what a great start it is to our day!

The specially designed postcard for Every Tree Tells a Story

Every tree tells a story at Pond Cottage

July 3, 2024 / fay / 4 Comments

Planting a tree is to have hope for the future…
The old oak tree

The story so far. On a sunny afternoon in May a small group gathered among the trees at Pond Cottage to explore how storytelling can reconnect people with the natural world. And what we all gain when we do.

Can we trust the weather forecast? Let's put up the gazebo just in case: picture Fay Young, Pond Cottage

Tree stories stir hearts and perhaps a sense of hope

June 1, 2024 / fay / 3 Comments

It was a gentle afternoon. No workshops, no break outs, no lectures, and certainly no rants. Just a meandering walk and talk through paths and clearings of our almost natural woodland, sharing thoughts about trees, birds, bats, butterflies. And how much we all enjoy being in a place where you can hear birds sing.

Looking up through conifers at Pond Cottage

Every Tree Tells A Story

May 13, 2024 / fay / 6 Comments

look: I am still alive –
in fact, in bud.
The Wishing Tree: Kathleen Jamie

Come gather round. We’re inviting a small group of pioneers for a first storytelling event among the trees of Pond Cottage. On Saturday 25 May Dr James Bonner of Strathclyde University will introduce an inspiring project connecting trees, people and places.

A blackthorn in blossom by the gateway to Pond Cottage, also known as The Pond Garden in Scotland's Gardens Scheme listings to gardens open to the public

A blossoming welcome to The Pond Garden

April 1, 2024 / fay / 0 Comments

A sight we love to see. The wild plum tree blossoming by the gate to Pond Cottage is now 30 years old and the older it gets the more beautiful it grows. It stands as a warm welcome to all visitors and once again we’re looking forward to welcoming Scotland’s Gardens Scheme explorers. We have enticing plans for the new season.

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