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

  • Unplugged

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    This is one of those rare days when the sun shines on Scotland while rain drenches the south. It is no time to be plugged in to the screen. Goodbye Google. There are weeds to pull, seedlings to pot, flowers to sniff, summer fantasies to dream and serious newspaper reading to be done on our…

  • Election day notes

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    High noon – time for me to take my stand at the polling station. What to wear? Black is a bit funereal but it will show up the red rosette better than my nice new red cardigan. I am to be on duty at the boys’ old nursery school just down the road. It is…

  • Backgreen democracy

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    Never mind the election. There may be a glimpse of real grassroots democracy in the gardens opening to the public in Edinburgh this weekend.

  • Hand of History

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    To the Corn Exchange with the hand of history on our shoulders. Last time I was there it was to hear Jurassic 5, a hip hop band with endearing appeal to some of us oldies because of their infectious rhythms, catchy tunes and clever way with words. Tony Blair also knows how to work the…

  • Eagle eyed

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    I could be blogging about leafleting for the Labour Party; down streets and up tenement stairs to post bold red statements through unresponsive doors. Or I could just rant about the curse of badly placed letter boxes (pity the postman who has to do this every day). Or fret about signs of a community so…

  • Glad tidings

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    Back from Canna. Some things about the island are the same as ever. The light and the views of Rum still take your breath away, and the word magic appears on every page of the visitors’ book. Some things have changed. There are more young people on the quay to meet the boat, and this…

  • Travelling light

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    I should be packing. Ray and I are off to the island of Canna for two days and I have food to gather and lists to check. It is nearly exactly 28 years since we went there for the first time and I can’t believe how much stuff we had to take: nappies and a…

  • Uncertain spring

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    So, there’s frilly lettuce, multi colour Swiss chard and some mini pumpkins in the basket. But no onions. Having finally got round to ordering my seeds for the growing season I find that Marshalls has sold out of my favourite Red Barron and Gold Fen onion sets. Serves me right for being so slow. But…

  • Life between the lines

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    …I became aware that the camera did not see space, it saw surfaces. The camera sees geometrically – we must see psychologically. I like David Hockney’s words. Although they are taken from the book that goes with his Year in Yorkshire paintings, they express the way I feel we should be looking at the design…

  • Would you believe it?

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    How about this. That picture of elk crossing the Trans-Canada highway has produced another comment from the other side of the world. In case it has slipped too far down screen for you to spot, here again is the picture that Beryl emailed me a couple of months ago. First of all Lonnie posted a…

  • Belfast’s undercover success

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    We went looking for the covered market in Belfast ready to be impressed. Friends told us it was good, the landlady in the B&B agreed, and besides, as journalists do, I had already written a little bit about it before I had even left Edinburgh. St George’s Market is in East Bridge Street near the…

  • Flight or fight

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    I’m definitely going to be flying less than Blair this year so I’m feeling smug – but I know I’m hypocritical. Apologies to Jean whose comment on my last Global Gossip newsletter slipped down page and out of sight last month. I wondered if I should be encouraging a communal blog about places people are…