This post is not sponsored by the South Ayrshire tourist board, but we are willing to accept gifts of any value over fifty Scottish pounds, or ten haggis in today’s money.

South Ayrshire is part of the most beautiful scenery on our island, facing out onto the Firth of Clyde and the magical Isle of Arran, whose ancient stone structures are known to house especially thieving fairy folk.

If you have never been around the Firth and up to Loch Lomond, it’s as fiercely magnificent in Autumn as it is lovely in late Spring.

St Ninian’s Church in Troon (not the Troon in Cornwall; Wales lacks a Troon entirely, which can’t be fair) is doing precisely what we, Ashridge the Nursery Business, want everyone to be doing all the time: planting more plants.

Whether it’s for beauty, wildlife, food and medicine, or to draw one’s spirit into the Earth and Sky, humbling and heavenly both, we are all for it and our bank manager agrees.

St Ninian’s garden plan includes a hedge and plants for pollinators, raised beds for some fruiting plants with a herb spiral, and a couple of ornamental planters: simple but effective designs give lasting structure to an outdoor space.

We think they are setting a great example, and it would be wonderful to see more churches following suit.