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

  • Lies, damned lies and tram headlines

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    Blue sky thinking: what Edinburgh needs. On a grey Edinburgh summer’s day I jump off a bus painted with blue skies and fluffy white clouds and on to the tram in Princes Street.  It isn’t going anywhere of course but it’s still a great ride if only to dispel  myths and misconceptions rumbling around town.

  • Sweetly subversive in Castle Street

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    Poetry as graffiti, a brilliant combination by Banksy (picture by CodySimms) I like to think this could be a sweetly subversive movement: poetry in motion, gently working its way into the nooks and crannies of city life; sometimes soothing, sometimes stirring.   In London this summer at least some of the 3.5 million daily passengers…

  • Gormfull on the Water of Leith

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    One piece by the bridge at Stockbridge By the time we got there the red bikini was off.  But the naked body in the water was discreetly half hidden by foliage.  A couple pass by not quite sure what to make of it, “Look,” says the woman, “there’s someone in the water.”   Which would Gormley…

  • How to save a million George? Invest in young people

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    Job schemes for the young have taken the first big hit in George Osborne’s deficit reduction cuts. It’s dogma over common sense Another gorgeous day.  I haven’t switched on the radio yet because I can’t quite bear to hear what less than gorgeous George is doing to the economic climate of the country. Is this…

  • Be brave Edinburgh, follow Glasgow’s lead

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    Public space for people Sunday lunchtime. The sun is shining, the pan pipes are playing and the waiter is serving sea food and pink wine at the table next to us.  If you shut your eyes you might be in a typical street cafe in a typical European town centre.  And of course that’s where…

  • Going hyperlocal – or into the hall of mirrors?

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    What’s the news today?  To find out, I have several choices. I can scan the latest electronic updates in my inbox; I can flit through Twitter or other social media gatherings in cyberspace; or  I can take my newspaper and cup of coffee into the garden and sit in the sun while real birds twitter…

  • Rust in pieces on the Water of Leith

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    Thanks to Ray Perman for this guest blog on a bold new proposal for our part of town. And thanks to Aunty P for the picture (taken a little further afield). I like the work of Antony Gormley. I like particularly that his rusting, steel statues – modelled on his own body, although you would…

  • Tescotown – Tescotram?

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    The success of our business depends on listening to people and responding to what they tell us. [Tesco Corporate Social Responsibility] Here’s a shocking revelation in our local community newsletter.  Shocking but probably not surprising.   Tesco  will not be paying a penny towards the construction of Edinburgh’s tram route although it is perfectly – and…

  • Welcome immigrants, you make life better

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    Not many people saw it, but last night was a good night for community action.  While would-be leaders dominated the television screen,  a political drama was quietly unfolding in a Leith community centre which confounds all those fears of immigrants.

  • Cybraphon blows a fuse

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    “If you think we are rubbish,” says Ziggy, “you can always go upstairs and listen to Cybraphon.”  Actually he put it stronger than that but this is a family blog (sort of) and however he put it, Ziggy knew there was a risk people might just do that.  Found has created a formidable cyber celebrity…

  • When a house is a home

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    A new dawn, a new neighbour, a new kitchen Poor old house. I can almost hear it groaning through the adjoining walls as the banging and drilling, the sawing and sanding, the breaking down and tearing up begin all over again. Yet another new neighbour means new paint, new carpets, new bathroom suite and, of…

  • Guardian sings the Broughton Street Blues

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    I left a message on Tom’s mobile suggesting we might take a rain check.  Or even a snow check.  But the Guardian’s new beatblogger is made of strong stuff and how could I refuse? He wanted to follow up my blog about Tesco by interviewing real shopkeepers in Broughton Street and he wasn’t going to…