Hello, folks! This episode of the ecotherapy podcast is about ruins, abandoned places, and nature’s reclamation of them. Click on the slim black player above to listen.

This episode is about a topic that I find very interesting and strangely moving.

Have you ever stumbled across an old abandoned building, or even the crumbled remains of a simple structure, and felt something special?

Ruins and abandoned human-built structures are often swiftly reclaimed by nature. It’s not unusual to see weeds growing through the cracks, grass moving ‘indoors’ or even trees and shrubs taking root upon structures that once were the domain of the human.

In this month’s nature therapy podcast, I take a walk through my village of Temple in Midlothian, Scotland, and I ponder on the magnificent ruins of the Knights Templar. These ruins are such a deep part of the local history that the village itself is named after them.

The first ruins that I ever truly connected with was a simple little red-brick structure in a wooded area of Liverpool (where I grew up). I remember playing in this crumbled structure as a child, which wasn’t ancient by any stretch of the imagination, creating ghost stories about it and feeling both attracted and frightened of its strange energy. I think this is something that we can all relate to with abandoned places. They remind us of the transience of life. They also, beautifully, connect us to times past and to our ancestors.

I do hope that you enjoy this month’s nature podcast, friends. There is also a little section at the beginning of the episode about indoor ecotherapy, thanks to some wonderful tips I received from listener Germaine Hypher.

Take care for now,

Stephen x