Fay Young

Trees in full leaf, bright green under a blue sky reflected in the pond: The Pond picture by Fay Young

One thing always leads to another

I’m a journalist. I’ve always been curious about people and places.

I started writing about other people’s gardens a long time ago and somehow I’ve ended up having a wild garden that’s open to the public.

This site is a collection of my writing on gardens, culture, wildlife, the environment and even a little politics.

The garden is open through Scotland’s Garden Scheme supporting Children’s Hospices Across Scotland.

We are open now for spring walks. Please don’t hesitate to let us know when you’d like to come. Just fill in the Contact form. Give us a call. Find out more about Pond Cottage Garden

  • Norwegians would

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    This is a museum, the real off license is closed Imagine a country where supermarkets do not sell wine and spirits and the only off licence chain is owned by the state. What’s more the offy closes at 3pm on Saturdays and doesn’t open at all on public holidays.  No, of course that country is…

  • Pelican patrol

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    Just to show I don’t spend all my time photographing litter. Here’s my attempt at origami pelicans to hang on the Poetry Tree in the Poetry Garden in St Andrew Square.  So, you don’t know about the Poetry Garden? More about that later – right now I better go and pack for the trip to…

  • New Town rubbish: our World Heritage

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    What makes the concept of World Heritage exceptional is its universal application. World Heritage sites belong to all the peoples of the world, irrespective of the territory on which they are located UNESCO World Heritage website So who owns the New Town? The morning after blogging about the bin bags of the New Town, I…

  • Edinburgh’s New Town Wasteland

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    Oh contrary Edinburgh. While the people of Leith Walk are (rightly) angry with the council for messing up their street (see comments on Ray’s recent ‘rant’) round the corner residents of the posh New Town are turning their neighbourhood into a tip all by themselves.

  • Beware landslides, they bury hopes as well as fears

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    The morning after. Through my window I see a lampost spattered with red, orange and green  and none of those colours will make much of a splash in the new Scottish Parliament. As a Labour supporter I take some comfort from the posters taped to our living room window. Malcolm Chisholm has survived what looks…

  • Wanted: a vision for Leith Walk

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    Ray Perman takes a critical look at Leith Walk in this guest blog. With imagination and a little money it could become  the most elegant and cosmopolitan street in Edinburgh. [Many local people agree, see the excellent comments at the end of the post] There are a lot of reasons for despairing at the dysfunctional…

  • Let them be afflicted

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    So, no more Mr Nice Guy then. David Cameron’s Britain looks set to become an unforgiving kind of place.  Welcome immigrants – but only the right kind of immigrants and not too many of them. And lets stop wasting tax on wasters – drug addicts, alcoholics, and the overweight – so they get off benefits…

  • Joining or dividing?

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    Does social media connect or separate communities? (With apologies to Ian Hamilton Finlay and Little Sparta) Distraction. I should be working but Googling alerts me to a poll on the Guardian’s Edinburgh blog.  Should the Old Odeon become a Wetherspoons pub? By the time I vote (no, of course) and leave a comment the story…

  • Times and tides of a small island

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    Government cuts won’t hurt Canna museum or library but real life makes itself felt in other ways. Island life is not for softies. We got back to Edinburgh in the early hours this morning, now it’s evening before the day has properly begun. I always have difficulty adjusting to the clocks going forward but today…

  • Beyond the grave

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    I finally found James Grieve beneath a holly bush in the cemetery.  At least I think the bare stone plinth marks the spot where he was buried but dense prickles prevented me from burrowing too deep. I left the graveyard with a new curiosity about the man who made such a mark in life.  Why…

  • At a club, concert hall or container near you

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    Welcome back to the Broughton music festival (see yesterday’s blog).  Thank goodness for the alphabet because it would be impossible to give any other order of priority to these highly individual musicians.  What they all have in common is a desire to experiment and a strong collaborative streak. A roll of drums please for Andy…

  • Broughton rocks…all over the world

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    You can find them at clubs, concert halls or festivals near you whether you are in New York, Austin Texas, Mexico, London, Edinburgh or Glasgow  – a fantastic bunch of young people making music for a living and for fun. They are at T in the Park and on the Island of Eigg; live on…