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

  • Journey into space

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    I see that left leaning bloggers are being asked to unite against Michael Meacher and his bid for leadership of the Labour Party. I scoff a little at the idea. Even in my most optimistic moments I don’t imagine that anyone out there is reading my thoughts apart from family and friends. Then I nip…

  • Sleeping disorders, pornography and public petitions

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    As luck has it I chose the Public Petitions committee meeting for my latest outing to the Scottish Parliament. So Celina and I sat in Room 4 listening to petitions of the day – more bobbies on the Strathclyde beat, better swimming pools for Scottish kids – while in Room 1 the Equal Opportunities committee…

  • Caution: elk crossing

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    Here’s some Global Gossip with a difference. Yesterday, on another unnaturally warm winter morning, I opened my email to find an amazing early spring scene from my cousin Beryl in Vancouver, a photo so surreal I thought at first that Beryl had been busy with PhotoShop. But on further reading I discover that there are…

  • Czech mate: travelling with Tesco

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    I turned on the radio this morning to catch the tail end of a story about Tesco’s triumphant entry into Beijing, hot on the trail of Walmart and Carrefour. No surprise there. The interesting thing is that the Beijing store is so, well, Chinese. But that is not a surprise either. Tesco is a very…

  • Global gossip heats up

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    Flying has become about as much fun as queuing at a supermarket checkout. Less: you don’t have to take off your shoes in Tesco. Should I be doing this? I am delighted to get so many offers of posts about city life from my travelling family and friends. Some of them started to arrive in…

  • Day of the flood

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    It feels strange when your life becomes part of the news. The day after the flood I drove up to Pond Cottage to check for damage. As Ray and I had expected the cottage got off lightly but the landscape looked like a jigsaw puzzle that hadn’t been put together properly. Some familiar pieces were…

  • Off the band wagon and onto the tram

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    Yesterday was the shortest day of the year but it was a very long day for politics.

  • Time to get our skates on

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    Why are Edinburgh NIMBYs so afraid of skate parks? Ray Perman reports from an inspiring enterprise in Dundee where the energy and enthusiasm of young people benefit the whole community. I like skateparks. That’s not a very popular thing to say in North Edinburgh just now when a disgraceful NIMBY campaign has defeated plans for…

  • Global gossiping takes off

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    I didn’t know what kind of response I would get. But within hours of reading my birthday blog Jean posted a comment to say she would be joining global gossip as soon as she had travelled further than Didcot. Then Kate emailed to say she would like to take part. Nick sent a text saying…

  • Lisbon: elevated

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    While Edinburgh is inching towards a decision to install one tram route Kate MacInnes sends her views of a city where trams have been running since 1873. Getting around Lisbon is a joy with the trams, funiculars and elevadors – all a perfect way of climbing up the hills of this great city. Although modern…

  • Brussels: lights, action, mussels

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    It’s around 8pm and the place is going like a fair. I am squeezed between an East European couple on one side and a Spanish pair on the other. The waiter delivering many forms of cooked mussels is French but he is speaking to us all in flawless English. So why does this place feel…

  • Brussels: following yonder (Euro) star

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    I would rather be back in Brussels where the air smells of chocolate and vanilla and they haven’t even finished putting up the Christmas lights in the centre of town.