After fleeing from war-torn Kyiv in September last year, Andrii Bondar and his family are among the many Ukranians now living in Dundee.

“We feel like home,” the Ukranian tells me, as we walk through a community garden in the heart of Dundee.

He says that Scottish people – Dundonian people, in particular – are his favourite.

Andrii and his family are visiting Camperdown Country Park, enjoying the playpark in the sunshine, when they stumble upon a flourishing vegetable patch.

Here, Campy Growers plant fruit and veg using eco-friendly, small-scale farming methods and offer their homegrown produce for free.

Andrii compares the Dundee garden to his home in Ukraine.

He says: “It feels like Ukraine, like my home, because Ukrainians also have their own gardens.

“We know how important vegetables [are].

“I like this place and I feel good here.”

Memories of his father’s garden in Ukraine unearthed on Dundee soil

Since coming to Dundee with his wife and son, Andrii has been learning English on Duolingo. He is making quick progress, but is still working on his spoken English.

He looks downcast as we ask him about how he got to Dundee, and what (or who) he may have left behind.

Andrii doesn’t want to talk about the war in Ukraine.

He says: “I don’t know what else needs to be said.”

Andrii tells me that his father remains in Ukraine. He says his dad felt it was important to stay on ‘his soil’ despite the war going on around him.

“My father stayed in Ukraine.

“He [said to] me: ‘I won’t go. I [will] stay here, this is my soil and I need [to] stay here.”

Andrii falls quiet for a moment then solemnly adds: “This is difficult for me.”

The gardening going on all around him in Camperdown park seems to inspire a flood of memories of Andrii’s father.

Andrii, 43, tells me: “My father has a big garden and all summer, autumn, spring we plant some vegetables.

“We have all [sorts of] vegetables. Potato, cabbage, cucumber, carrot, we all have in our garden.

“It’s hard for me. This is my country and I want [to go] back to Ukraine of course.

“But here, we feel like home.”

Plans to join Dundee growing group

Andrii jokes about not having a pair of gloves with him, so I show him my hands. They are caked in mud from helping the Campy Growers with some transplanting and weeding.

The Campy Growers are a group of volunteers determined to teach other locals how to produce food locally, in the wake of concerns over food scarcity.

They are one of the lucky groups that have been awarded funding from the Dundee Climate Fund for their “food for the future” growing project.

Andrii seems keen to come back again and join them.

“Your hand is dirty,” he says, “my hand now is clean, but next time I come and I [will] try [to] help.

“I can come back next time and try [to] help, because this is soil, this is very important to all people, for all people.

“This is it and we need it every day.”

Andrii is looking forward to returning to the garden in the future, to get stuck in with the gardening.

“I like the people who live in Dundee,” he says, “people [are] very kind.

“From my heart, this is the best people.”

And it isn’t just Dundonians that Andrii is a big fan of, he also praises people like the Campy Growers, who spend their free time gardening.

He tells me: “People who work on the ground, in the garden, they are my hero.”