Autumn in the Aire

Autumn is certainly in the air, with our park-up area looking a little sparse around the edges. The trees are casting their leaves in rustling showers and the colour palette of Frugaldom has become one of bronze, yellows, reds and golds. There is still a little bit of green to be seen but most of the flowers have gone.

The scarlet dogwoods add a splash of colour by the edge of the paddock and by the side of the drive so we will soon be cutting these back to replant those red stems elsewhere. Come along and help, if you can.

The willows have become wispy, waving in the wind and ready to be cut down for replanting elsewhere. Willows and dogwoods are fantastic for this very reason - harvesting their stems, or coppicing them, produces an abundance of new planting material every year.

The beech tree is turning golden and is currently the location of many bird visits as the goldcrests and other small birds pick at the bugs and buds. The hazel and oak trees are frequented by the jays who come to feast on the nuts and acorns.

The ground beneath the trees is carpeted in crispy leaves, often disturbed by scratching birds and snuggling badgers. You can tell the year is winding down, which means we need to step up the feeding to supplement the diets of all the creatures who live here. We now have regular badger buffets and tree picnics for the pine martens. The most fantastic thing about nature is that it surrounds us and can be enjoyed by all for free. Catching glimpses of badgers and pine martens or the occasional red squirrel is a gift to be enjoyed by all. Feed them and they will come.

If you would like to help us feed the animal inhabitants of Frugaldom then you can simply contribute a few pounds via PayPal to frugaldom@gmail.com 

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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.

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.

New Financial Year, New Budget

What's in the pot for the 2025/26 financial year at Frugaldom?

For the past 4 years, we have trialled the concept of 'aires', which we were led to believe were the most frugal, affordable forms of safe, legal, overnight park-ups for campervans and motorhomes. During the lockdowns imposed on us all during the COVID pandemic, local councils were faced with the massive problem of where to send folks in campervans and motorhomes if they had no other places to go. Our local council here in Dumfries & Galloway were actively seeking land suitable for parking up to 3 such vehicles at a time, so we volunteered our yard. 

Through this, we met many fabulous new friends, many of whom have remained in contact and still visit to volunteer here at Frugaldom. When the council licensing ended in 2022 (I think), we were then able to remain open under the guidance of the recently formed CAMpRA - a group established to introduce and encourage new Aires - with an exemption licence being issued by MotorhomeFun. Another year on and CAMpRA had formed their own rally group to issue aire certification. Things weren't all that we had expected in the beginning. Our vision of offering peaceful, off-grid overnight parking where people could get back to nature, relax and share the enjoyment of watching the local wildlife while paying just £5 per night, however, wasn't quite what most motorhomers were seeking and as we had no intentions of going down the campsite route. The decision was taken to close our Aire completely. Huge thanks to all who did visit during the past 4 years but, sadly, it just wasn't viable when we were averaging less than 2 vehicles per week over that period plus facing escalating bills to cover maintenance, repairs and extra public liability insurance. As of 31st March 2025, our yard is no longer open to the public for overnight parking.

WHAT NOW?

Now, with the new financial year upon us, we have returned to focussing our attention on nature and the wildlife garden while caring for the resident ponies and goats, plus developing our off-grid hutting project. Frugal living is still at the cite of all we do. 

Harvey is still creating environmental artwork that stands on display within the orchard areas, wildlife garden and tree planting zones. The wildlife is being encouraged and our membership of supporters is slowly growing, although we still have a few places left to fill. Members can choose to pay from as little as £5 per month to become Friends of Frugaldom and either support the project from afar or visit whenever possible. Funds contribute towards the care of the animals and wildlife. Pony partners pay from £10 each month to help cover extra costs of caring for rescued, rehomed and retired ponies here while wildlife watchers pay from £25 per month, which affords the luxury of using a hut for wildlife watching. 

For those with the dream of a cabin in the woods, we offer our happy hutters option - £50 per month - which pretty much provides you with a holiday home in the shape of an off-grid cabin for regular, short stay accommodation throughout the year. The huts also provide fabulous opportunities to observe the badgers, pine martens and wild birds up close by way of the various feeding stations that have been created nearby.

As you can see, we have an unusual mix of what I now refer to as Scottish pandas (badgers) and pine martens.

There is no knowing what our trail cameras might pick up through the night so we always invite visiting members to bring along their own if stopping over for a night or few. Over night parking is now readily available in the yard while wildlife watching, volunteering or staying in the huts. 

Watch out for the feral cats, especially this one. We named her Caramel, she is the only one of 5 or 6 who shows up during daylight hours to follow us around as we work. We do have a few feline fans among the Friends of Frugaldom and to those, we say thank you for helping us feed the cats.

Frugaldom is run entirely as a voluntary project. We receive no financial support other than that provided by our group memberships and occasional donations. The ethos has always been, and will always be, about sharing, caring and offering opportunities to those who may not, otherwise, be able to enjoy art in nature, wildlife and the animals in our care. Frugal living is what affords us the luxury of running the project. Not all things that seem 'too good to be true' are too good to be true. 

The Frugal living challenge is still running within the forums of Moneysavingexpert.com website where you are also welcome to join us.

Changes Afoot After March 2025

As you may know, we close the gates to our CAMpRA campervan and motorhome stopover aire on the 31st March, 2025. Our plans are to focus more fully on the wildlife and nature project, alongside woodland creation and fruit growing. It has been great meeting our visitors over the past 4 years, showing them around the project and chatting about plans. We are grateful to all who have parked up and spent time at Frugaldom, contributing a few pounds towards the animal feed bills and, on numerous occasions, helping out while here.

Our membership options remain unchanged with monthly subscription to the Friends of Frugaldom offering various other options, such as pony partners, wildlife watchers and happy hutters. All the relevant details, including how to join, can be found here.

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Back to Basics

What is 2025 bringing for Frugaldom?

Friends of Frugaldom - membership to the support group will remain at it's current rate of £5 per month. (After fees are deducted by PayPal and Stripe, if you use that option on the page, we can receive as little as £4.30 so every penny really does count.) The group (our virtual family) comprises regular subscribers, supporters and volunteers. Friends of Frugaldom are the backbone of this project, which incorporates art with nature.

Pony Partners - Relates to those people who contribute a little extra towards the costs for the ponies that live here. Our eldest pony is Ginger, who is 30+ years old. He has been with us since 2018, arriving from another rescue centre. Pony partners can pay from £10 per month, which includes their £5 Friends of Frugaldom contribution.

Wildlife Watchers - Frugaldom is a rewilding project that has developed over the past 10 years. We have come from a clear felled area with marshland to a flourishing working woodland, thanks mainly to the generosity of The Woodland Trust and their sponsors. Each year, they have sent us hundreds of native saplings so we have now planted over 10,000 into hedges, woodlands, shelter belts and wildlife corridors. Last year, we raised enough funds to buy trail cameras and den boxes for pine martens. One of the huts, known as the Pine Marten Lodge, is now used for group members joining us for regular wildlife watch evenings and weekends. For this, we set the minimum at £25 per month, £5 of it for Friends of Frugaldom membership and the balance (after fees) contributes towards creating and maintaining wildlife habitats, feed and surveillance equipment.

Happy Hutters - At £50 per month, these are the people who look after the huts on site. These Friends of Frugaldom come along for longer stays, helping during tree planting, volunteering their spare time to help look after the animals and participating in various projects while enjoying recreational time staying in the off-grid huts. The huts also provide retreat space where our happy hutters can simply relax and enjoy being at one with nature.

To find out more about Friends of Frugaldom and to get involved, see the Frugaldom ko-fi club page and consider supporting the project. We are not a charity or a business, we are simply a group of people volunteering our time and energy creating an outdoor space that can be enjoyed while providing a safe environment for the animals, currently 7 ponies, 2 goats, 6 feral cats) and wildlife including pine martens, fixes, rabbits and badgers.