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
-
P is for panic in the A-Z of moving house
One day Ray and I will write a book on how not to sell and move house. Timing is all and we seem to have a knack for bad timing.
-
Bye bye blackbird…and our Edinburgh urban jungle
Global campaigns sound alarms in a new age of mass extinctions – but local gardens can be sanctuaries, instead of parked cars there could be nature reserves at many more back doors.
-
Sunset song for the winter solstice
The winter sun just hangs over the ridge of the Coolags. Its setting will seal the shortest day of the year, the winter solstice. At this season the sun is a pale wick between two gulfs of darkness. So wrote George Mackay Brown, the observant eye of the great Orkney poet seeking out the touch…
-
Nature makes a happy mess at Pond Cottage
‘But it’s the right kind of mess,’ she says, as I apologise for the tangle of wayward weeds tumbling across the path. ‘It’s so liberating. I’m going home to release my free spirit.’ Our garden visitors at the end of the season have been very kind. After a summer of unforeseen events the Pond Garden…
-
Slowing the flow
Sustainable flood management enables communities to adapt to the realities of climate change. Restoring natural defences against flooding brings social, economic and environmental benefits to the whole community. Pity the people of Somerset Levels. The last thing they need as the weather report threatens more rain and gales, is a rush of politicians anxious to…
-
No garden retreat at Little Sparta
Order…disorder: “The present order is the disorder of the future.” Louis Antoine de Saint-Just 1767-1794 But it’s Ian Hamilton Finlay’s words that echo round the garden today.
-
Tread softly in the bluebell woods
Depending on the weather, the show can last a month or more. This May it feels more precious than ever. We need to tread softly…
-
Welcome to The (lily) Pond
It’s not possible (and I think not right) to avoid the wider world news of death and destruction. And yet it also feels more important than ever to celebrate what Nature brings us, the turning cycle of life. Renewal and recovery. People and plants. We need each other.
-
For future generations: buried poetry
How will we remember this time? How will future generations see us? Will we survive the triple onslaught of pandemic, war and climate change?
-
Ghosts of census past and present
Just for the hell of it, I hang Granny’s nighties and pretty petticoat by a range which has been here for 160 years, our smart new utility room still boasts the original Belfast sinks from the scullery where Elizabeth Leather would have laboured over dishes, pots and pans. How much of all this will be…
-
One snort for hello?
At no risk to ourselves we can make our own surrounds much greener, safer – and a lot more pleasant.
-
Keep people safe: keep gardens open
If we want our grandchildren to enjoy the thrill of a thriving woodland – a living landscape – we have a lot of work ahead.