We live where Saltdean backs on to the Downs and badgers pass nightly through our garden, where they stop to drink from the pond.

Their track is clearly visible and was there long before we arrived.

Our fences are slightly raised to allow them free passage. On occasion, we have wondered if a cow from the local herd had been loose in the garden because of their diggings but we rake over and get on with life.

Three years ago, badgers burrowed into the nearby farm's silage pit, causing extensive flooding of our garden and the death of three years' devoted planting.

We lived with the stink for weeks but the farmer helped us bail out, make good and replant, as well as building high banks on his land to prevent recurrence. Amicable. No fuss.

On summer evenings, our family's great joy is to sit quietly while the new family of badgers uses the same track they always have done and we can sit within feet to watch them feed.

This is their gift to me and my children and we would rather have this than a garden shed any day.

-Dawn Austin Locke, Saltdean