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

  • FOUND at RBS

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    No, no, no. Not that RBS (though the old bank might do well to invest in real young talent). This is the Royal British Society of Sculptors and their current exhibition Material Rites just happens to feature the work of our Tommy Perman, Ziggy Campbell and Simon Kirby (aka a rearrangement of FOUND the band).…

  • Bag for life

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    No time for blogging this week. I have thousands of words to churn out for another publication.  But, oh dear, maybe I shouldn’t bother trying to write anything new here, a quick look at my dashboard shows another crop of comments on the old Tesco blogs. Could be my bag for life…

  • Uncertain certainties about climate change

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    Most of us had done the easy things before we bought our tickets for The Age of Stupid in 2009.  We’ve already switched to low energy light bulbs,  turned down the heating and we wash our clothes at 30 degrees C. Most of us even drive less and buy more local food.  But if the…

  • Goodbye Lenin, hello Tesco (again)

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    Does Edinburgh get the kind of Tesco it deserves?  I am intrigued to find that old Tesco stories on my blog still attract new comments, curiously some of them are from people who indignantly defend the supermarket but there is an encouraging majority from people who want to support local shops.

  • Scott free?

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    I see the Guardian is asking for memories connected with the Scott Monument. This probably isn’t what they are looking for but I can’t resist publishing a provocative piece which first appeared in The City Talks. Colin Cumberland  makes a pretty good case for getting rid of the monument which he describes as a “Gothic…

  • King Wenceslas on a Kubota

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    Snow has always been an adventure at Pond Cottage but this year it feels like an attack. Three weeks ago we only just managed to get away by digging a narrow track up the lane with the tractor.  I followed Ray, King Wenceslas on a Kubota, as close as I dared, hanging on to the…

  • A is for alcohol

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    Politicians can’t do drugs and drink. Pandering to the Daily Mail and the drinks industry means they are irrational about one and evasive about the other.   While government policy slips and slides around the price (too low) and social cost (too high) of booze, I am enjoying the memory that I once managed to sneak…

  • Many a slip…thank goodness

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    Thank you, thank you Jim Naughtie.  Yesterday was a pretty grim day news wise apart from that wonderful slip of the tongue on Today.  And, oh, it was an accident waiting to happen,  some people have names that invite mischief. Reminds me when I was a trainee reporter, on my newspaper in East Anglia we…

  • Christmas rapping recycled

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    Sno Biz from Tommy Perman on Vimeo. Here’s something to cheer me up and maybe you too. I started the morning fed up with the snow, tired of people oohing and aaahing about how pretty it looks on Twitter, and wondering how much longer it can go on. Then I discover Tommy has recycled some…

  • Into the unknown

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    Our first Open Space event took place in a very open space, a cavernous place, at the top of a shopping centre overlooking Leith harbour, one cold Sunday in November. There was no heating, no lighting, no floor covering but there was a fabulous view of the Forth. It seems a good place to start.

  • Anyone for the Big Society?

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    Harder than it seems, members of the audience get involved in Change earlier this year (picture by Kasia Raszewska) At the dress rehearsal I find myself on the edge of my seat. Why is Alice not gathering information and support from her local councillors, MSP, housing associations, neighbourhood groups? Who the hell is funding this…

  • Gray’s Elegy

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    Never look a gift horse?  I’m wandering up Broughton Street in two minds.  It seems churlish to complain about bright new shops opening so soon after the old businesses closed down. In the age of austerity too.  But the old curmedgeon in me can’t help feeling it’s a shame there are so few shops selling…