About Frugaldom

These past few weeks since reopening our yard to campervans and motorhomes have been interesting. Our speciality, if you care to call it that, is providing opportunities for our visitors to watch the wildlife at the various feeding stations.

The badgers, now known as 'Clan MacBrock', are firm favourites with everyone, especially with so many of our visitors never having seen live badgers before coming to Frugaldom. Our resident badgers are very shy, nocturnal creatures but they occasionally put in an appearance before dark. By using trail cameras, we can see where they go and at what time.

The pine martens are also highly prized for photo opportunities and, to everyone's delight, they have been arriving at all hours, including the middle of the day. Our current motorhomers parked up in the yard have managed to get some great photos of pine marten in a nearby tree at the peanut feeder.

As many of you will know, we also have the huts at Frugaldom, where our supporters can camp out to watch the wildlife. Sometimes, however, I do wonder who is watching who.

As autumn approaches, we are introducing more opportunities for our supporters to come along and share this patch of wilderness. 

Thetr is still plenty to see if you live wildlife and nature. There's park-up space for campervans and motorhomes (max 7.5m) and woodland huts as hides and for a spot of overnight camping. The huts are ideal for artists, writers, photographers and for anyone looking to escape for a bit of down time to recharge. Hut 3 makes a fabulous reading room while hut 2 is more spacious for enjoying the company of friends or fellow wildlife enthusiasts.

As well as wildlife and nature conservation, we provide sanctuary to ponies, goats and feral cats.

We are not a charity nor are we a company, we are a social enterprise being run voluntarily to offer fellow frugalers and followers of Frugaldom the chance to experience a totally off-grid, low impact lifestyle where nature and the environment play primary roles. 

While here, you can take a walk into the secret garden and explore art in nature.

To join Friends of Frugaldom and support this project, you can sign up via our page at www.ko-fi.com/Frugaldom Membership costs from just £5 per month and all monies raised contribute towards feeding and caring for the animals and wildlife that live here.

Cabin Camping for Wildlife Watching

Cabin based wildlife watching just got so much better at Frugaldom. We now have hut 3, which can snugly accommodate singles or couples, available to members and non-members alike. 

Hut 3 benefits from some beautiful sunrise views over the marshes and fields towards the Galloway Hills.

The unicorn sculpture is located to the front of this little cabin, alongside the track leading to the pine marten's tree.

The views of the Galloway Hills change with the seasons and the weather but this is the view from the covered decking.

Often, flocks of birds descend on the surrounding willows. Today's visitors were long-tailed tits and redpolls. Apologies for the bad photo quality but all I had was my mobile phone when the birds arrived.

Having taken delivery of another load of wood chippings and some rather interesting logs yesterday, we were able to begin making a few improvements to the feeding station in front of this hut.

The feeding station is a favourite spot for badgers, pine martens and foxes so you are almost guaranteed to see something if you are sitting quietly of an evening. 

Members of the Clan MacBrock are busying themselves about the place regularly, out and about from sunset munching happily on peanuts, snuffling for worms and even coming onto the hut decking, helping themselves to the cat food.

We usually leave a fresh egg out for the pine martens but the badgers often get there first. Pine martens, however, also love peanuts.

Tonight, Tuesday 16th September, 2025, the cameras have been set in the hope of bringing you a snapshot of the wildlife. For nature enthusiasts, urban escapes, wildlife watchers and those interested in disconnecting to recharge, this hut retreat could provide you with the ultimate, minimal impact experience of a lifetime. If you value unique stays over luxury services, Frugaldom is a must-see.

Not only do we offer friendly cabin camping opportunities, we also have over 60 installations of environmental artworks, all created from locally collected driftwood, wildwood and beach-combed 'junk'. See how many you can spot while here.

FACILITIES

Hut 3 can accommodate single adventurers or couples looking to escape and get back to nature. The huts are totally off-grid so you will need to bring your camping gear. There is a site toilet and the only available water is harvested from the roof. Minimal lighting is from solar and heating is by means if a small log burner.

PRICES

£50 per night includes vehicle parking nearby. No pets, no smoking, no vaping in the huts.

BOOKING

Please text or WhatsApp 07795870688 or email frugaldom@gmail.com to check availability. 

Frugal and Free

FREEBIES!

But what does one do with such frugal gifts? Some may say this is mere waste and, in a way, it is. Someone, somewhere paid a company to remove a dangerous tree and clip back a hedge then remove all this 'waste' so everything went through a big chipping machine and loaded onto a lorry. From there, it is 'disposed of appropriately and legally'. 

Frugaldom is on the disposal list. We recycle chipped up trees and logs into mulch, compost and wildlife habitats that become homes or feeding stations to a plethora of critters and beasties.

Log piles make fabulous critter dens and feeding areas for wildlife. For our visitors stopping overnight, these areas also make great photo points when spotting the foxes, badgers or pine martens.

We often set out trail cameras and we supplement the feed of our visiting wildlife. Food for the animals is our biggest expense so we love when visitors arrive bearing gifts of peanuts, monkey nuts, fresh eggs, suet blocks and crunchy peanut butter (100% peanuts).

We also recycle any pallets we are given. Most get used for fencing or for floating footpaths over the marshy areas but we also built a small hide for summer use by the river. 

As well as all of this, the donated logs, tree chippings and pallets can be incorporated into Frugaldom's art in nature project. Harvey is in charge of that, creating all the wildwood and driftwood sculptures, making art from beach trash and dreaming up all manner of woodland creatures that can now be found here.

Currently, the installation known as 'The Four Horses if Frugaldom' is being moved from its previous location in the goat enclosure to be set up by the main driveway into the project. Truth, Honesty, Integrity and Respect will soon be in place, seen taking their leap of faith over nature's obstacles. Ecoarts play a huge part of what we do here, both telling a story and raising awareness, as well as helping raise much needed funds to help us keep going. 

But back to the free tree chippings...

Thanks to the chippings, we can mulch the footpaths that run between the cabins and around the wildlife feeding stations. Hut 2 is the current focus as we top up the paths around it, following in the footsteps of the deer, foxes, badgers and pine martens who frequently visit.

Frugal living isn't for everyone and nor is the whole off-grid experience but our aim is to make such experiences affordable and accessible to all. Nature and wildlife lovers, especially, are being offered memberships to our support group known as FRIENDS OF FRUGALDOM. In turn, this tiny bit income helps us cover costs of feeding the rescued, retired and rehomed animals we have here while offering members the chance to visit and stay.

Another fundraising feature we have is "Badger's Holt", a super corner of Frugaldom that permits campervans, motorhomes or even small caravans to park up and watch the wildlife while here. Stays can range from one day/night up to 28 days with pricing to suit any budget.

Frugaldom is also home to several feral cats, two of which can often be spotted roaming around the barn, hay shelters and feed rooms. Seen here is Caramel but we also have Macaroon, Minstrel, Socks and, on occasion, Commander.

All in all, Frugaldom is about frugality and the freedom to enjoy nature. Whether you are cabin camping, campervanning or motorhoming, we have an option that should suit every budget

Please contact me (Susan) if you have any questions or if you would like to help out here. Frugaldom is unfunded and run voluntarily as a social enterprise. We are neither a business nor are we a charity, we are simply two people spending our income on creating a magical little wilderness that can be enjoyed by all.

Follow us on Facebook, Twitter/X, Instagram or YouTube. Just search for username @Frugaldom

Badger's Holt

It has been just over a month since we reopened the yard to campervans and  motorhomes. Bay 1 has been introduced as Badger's Holt, the play on the word "Holt" (halt) appealing to my sense of humour. For anyone who doesn't know, a Holt is an area inhabited by badgers.

During our first month, we hosted 10 wildlife watchers with a 100% success rate on spotting badgers. A lucky few were able to spot the pine martens, regular visitors but much more wary and they don't feed near the badgers.

Over the coming months we will be offering many more opportunities for folks to come and experience Frugaldom for themselves. Plans are afoot to improve access to the huts and visitors will soon be able to make the most of those for wildlife watching. Priority, as ever, will always be given to our Friends of Frugaldom support group members but for we will be offering day and night use of the huts to our visitors, meaning you don't need a campervan or motorhome to enjoy a night of wildlife watching. Just pack a picnic and hunker down for the night in the cabins. £50 fee will apply, which includes parking and use of our basic facilities. You might like to bring peanuts, monkey nuts, fresh eggs and perhaps even some pure, unsweetened peanut butter, all favourites of the pine martens and badgers.