Great Regulars: 'Do you know a man with a digger?'

I asked them. And that's how we came to meet Ray Philips.

Ray dug me a 40ft wide doughnut of a hole marked by the outline I'd sprayed in the grass. He left an island in the middle. Lining the pond with Butyl took four of us. Then I had to cut out a hole for the island. To finish, Ray laid a chunk of slate that I'd bought from Clive Richards at Mid-Wales Stone, as a bridge to the island. The pond, now completed, took a whole week to fill.

from Frieda Hughes: Daily Mail: Rocky days, stormy nights: How Frieda Hughes transformed a desolate one-acre field into the garden of her dreams

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I donned multiple layers of clothing beneath waterproofs, used a pickaxe and was never without my heavy-duty rubber gloves, which saved my hands from the skin-splitting effects of putting them in potting mix - or wet mortar as I sponged the joints in my stone walling. I must have gone through 30 pairs. Only the snow brought me to a halt, because I couldn't see where I was digging.

from Frieda Hughes: Daily Mail: The magpie who came to stay: Artist Frieda Hughes has an unexpected house guest to her dream garden

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