To mark National Allotment Week (6th – 12th August) I thought I’d pay homage to my own plot.
It’s only 20 metres by 6 metres (60ft by 18ft) and, other than the paths I’ve put in, is nothing more than a simple patch of ground. It lies on the edge of the village and is only a 5 minute walk from my home. It may well just be a humble bit of soil but there aren’t many other things that give me so much pleasure in life and all for the bargain price of £10 a year.
My allotment
I have had my plot for just over 18 months now but it has become such a fixture in my life. It is a place to escape to. I live in a village but houses and gardens are still squeezed in and barking dogs, mowers and strimmers and those cursed trampolines, can mean that sometimes my back garden is not quite the tranquil retreat I envisaged. My plot, although next to a busy road is somewhere I’m rarely troubled by the sort of noises that drive me to distraction. I can happily potter away lost in a kind of meditation of plants and soil. Wellyman knows when I say I’m off to the plot and that I won’t be long, to expect me back several hours later.
It might only be a small bit of land but it has given me the opportunity to grow so many different plants, many more than I would have ever been able to do so at home; provide tasty, healthy produce for the kitchen and has allowed me to indulge in my love of cut flowers. It’s somewhere to get fresh air and exercise, somewhere to meet and chat with others.
My plot this summer
For someone who feels a little rootless, having left my native north-east 15 years ago and moved around a lot over the subsequent years, it is, strangely, the allotment that has made me feel like I have an attachment to somewhere, more so than my home and garden. I have no idea why this is so. With yet more rumbles of restructuring and redundancy at Wellyman’s place of work it got me thinking the other day about the possibility of having to move again. And the thought that saddened me the most was the idea of giving up my plot. Possibly because I know how difficult it is to find houses with decent sized gardens and that the chances of easily getting an allotment somewhere else would be slim. It is, hopefully, something I won’t have to do but it made me realise how the idea of giving people the opportunity to have some land, albeit small, can be so incredibly empowering and meaningful. And it’s something that goes across cultural boundaries. I loved reading in Cleve West’s book Our Plot about the different nationalities that have allotments on his site in London, proving it’s not just us eccentric Brits who appreciate the opportunities allotments can bring, and that the desire to grow is universal.
I love the structure of my plot and how growing there differs so much from in my garden. My garden often frustrates the perfectionist in me, when it doesn’t quite look how I imagined it would. The allotment, on the other hand, doesn’t have to live up to such expectations; it is purely about production. I can grow different flowers together I would never dream of growing in the garden because their colours would clash. I can pick buckets of sweet peas and not worry that the plants will look bare. I can net and fleece and not care that the plot looks like Miss Havisham’s house in Great Expectations because I don’t have to stare at it whilst I’m doing the washing up.
The view from my allotment
There’s a great view across to the Monmouthshire hills and the easterly parts of the Brecon Beacon National Park from the allotment. As the days, weeks and months pass the seasons change and so to does the view from the plot. From the first signs of spring, the daffodils lining the road and green returning to the hills, to the shafts of summer light poking through clouds and casting shadows across the fields and the mellowness of autumn, the bleached blond fields and the light, lower on the horizon. Even in winter, there is a beauty to my visits to the plot. Mists roll in and snow covers the hills in the distance.
So, in this National Allotment Week, I raise a glass to my plot.
WW I feel exactly as you do about my own allotment. Working the soil, raking it flat, sowing seeds, planting, weeding and cropping seem to tap into a primitive history. My spirits are raised by the exercise, satisfaction and fresh air. It isn’t cost effective travelling 15 minutes three times a week and to pay four times as much rent as you do but in terms of how it leaves me feeling it’s worth every penny.
Sue, I know I’m so lucky my plot costs me so little and that it’s not far from the house. I just wish it would stop raining so I could actually get up to it and do some work there!
I know what you mean when you write about what owning a plot of land can do – or at least be the custodian of one. I feel so connected to the soil in my summer house that it’s almost an extension of my self-perception.
It does feel like some innate need to be in contact with the soil.
Must be hard to look down at the ground with a view like that. I do hope you won’t have to move
Hopefully not. The view is lovely but it doesn’t distract me too much from the plot. It’s pretty handy as the weather tends to come from that direction so I can see if any rain storms are on the way and make a dash for it.
I do understand completely how you feel about your plot. Strangely when we moved to Italy (something I’d always dreamed of doing) leaving behind my allotment was hard. I too was lucky that it was just a 3 or 4 minute walk from home to the plot. Many, many Italians have a plot of land where they grow vegetables, mostly tomatoes; the lucky ones have some olives; these aren’t allotments but the land is owned by them but is often not very close to where they live. As you say, the desire to grow our own food is maybe deep within our psyche. Christina
I saw a programme a while ago with The Hairy Bikers who travelled around Italy and they visited a family and the patch of land where they grew their food was stunning. The tomatoes were incredible. When land is so expensive and in great demand for so many other needs it’s so important to protect allotments from development. Much as I’m loving the Olympics I think it was very sad that so many allotments were demolished to make way for the Olympic Park.
Cheers! No allotment, no veg growing here. Bleddie dogs and mowers yes, altho the trampoline doesn’t bother me. But with your writing I share your deep delight.
Thanks Diana, My plot has become a very special place to me.
Fabulous. Some days we would love to extend our growing area with an allotment, but we are pretty lucky with the space we have, and it already takes up most of our free time. We did briefly investigate a private allotment site that sprang up a few miles away deep in the countryside along a narrow lane that we use to miss the traffic sometimes, but the price was staggering and we could only laugh.
The cost of private allotments is very high. One benefit of that might be though that only those who really wanted a plot would take one on. On the site where my plot is, there are several plots that haven’t been touched this year. There is a sense that £10 a year is such a negligible amount that people pay it so they can keep the plot but aren’t that bothered or really don’t have the time to maintain the plot.
Oh such a beautiful post and photos–I could relate to the sanctuary of the garden and hours or a day gone by! but your vista to gaze upon–simply amazing!
🙂 Stacey
It is a lovely view, isn’t it? It’s nice to take a break from weeding and look across to the hills.
Sounds absolutely idyllic, the view is stunning, can imagine you would not want to move. We have had to move quite a lot with husbands job, been here now for 21 yrs and would hate to move again. We are now retired so hopefully will be able to stay until the garden gets to be too much for us.Plans are afoot in the village to persuade a local landowner to rent out some land for allotments, they are certainly wanted. We are lucky in that we have a small corner which we use for fruit and veg, must be more adventurous in what I grow.
Thank you, Pauline. I think more and more landowners are seeing the potential in having some allotments on their land. It’s such a good idea.
You’ve written a wonderful tribute to sense of place. Gorgeous setting for your gardening and your plot is lovely.
Oh thanks for that. WW x
I love your allotment especially for the view…my that is beautiful and what a grand place to garden. Your allotment looks so wonderful and full of veggies…a lovely tribute.
Thank you Donna. I’m lucky to have the plot, the view is such a bonus.
Fantastic site, WW. I’ve only once applied for an allotment and, after a couple of years, was offered one – just as we moved away. I can understand your very real reluctance to move away. And I also understand your feelings towards trampolines! They are quietly taking over the world for goodness only knows what evil purpose. D
I sound like a real killjoy when I whinge about trampolines. To be honest it’s less the trampoline and more the child using it. She has a talent for the high pitched screech and she doesn’t get bored of doing it. I knew someone who was sunbathing in the garden only to find near neighbour’s kids bouncing up and down so they could spy on her. She thought about moving she got so fed up with it.
It would be sad to leave my little plot but fingers crossed it won’t happen.
The very reason I like to get to the garden in the morning! The kids here tend to play outside in the afternoon, with no sense of the volume of noise they create. I’ve been known to tell them to take themselves away from the garden and into our playground unless they can be quieter!!
Goodness your plot is even smaller than mine, which is 60 by 30 feet, but with much better views.
For me this post perfectly encapsulates what allotmenteering is all about, and as I don’t have a garden it perhaps means even more to me.
So I raise my cup of tea and say ‘Happy Plotting’. xx
Thank you, Flighty. ‘Happy Plotting’ to you too. WW x
How I emphasise with you. We did a lot of moving around and each time were lucky enough to acquire an allotment which became our sanctuary. I never had one with such wonderful views though! We have our own vegetable plot now, but I still miss the camaraderie and helpful chats of our allotments. x
Hi Ellie, At some point I’d like to have enough space to grow my fruit and veg in my garden but even if I won the lottery tomorrow and could afford somewhere with a walled garden, I’d still miss the simplicity of my plot.
My plot is exactly the same dimensions and I have had it for about 18 months too. I shall do a post this week so you can see the similarities and differences. I havent really got into growing cut flowers there but having grown masses of calendula this year just because I had some spare seed I am definitely going to grow far more flowers in future.
Hi Helen, I’ll look forward to that. I didn’t plan on growing calendulas but they’ve appeared all over the place from last year, so I’ve left them. They don’t make great cut flowers but their petals look pretty in salads. WW
have done a similar post but it turned into a Dear John post !!!!
Wow what a view from your plot WW and what value for money. Our plots certainly deserve their very own special week. Long may they continue to bring joy to those who work on them and dream about them. Let’s hope that there are more created in the future for all those who are left in suspended animation on waiting lists.
It’s not just creating more allotments, I think they need to manage the lists and plots more effectively. People often get so fed up being on a list for a plot that if they move or change their minds they don’t bother to get their names taken off the lists. There are several people on the waiting list in my village and yet their are plots that have barely been touched since last year. The downside to plots being so cheap is people pay the rent but don’t use them.
Rents here in Ireland are typically 200-300 euro and even that doesn’t deter people from giving up. Sometimes I think the answer is even smaller plots. Even a small allotment is more work than most people realise and it is much easier to be productive in a small space than a big one. At my peak I was cultivating a couple of acres commercially but nowadays I get all the greenstuff for two people from half a dozen 3×8 foot raised beds. And for many people that is pretty much ideal – takes almost no effort and therefore never seems like too much of a challenge. A neglected allotment can be a real nightmare to get back into production when you have more demands on your time than you realised when you took it on. (Fruit I’ve just turned wild by the way – we get quite enough by just picking what the birds leave, but growing up we had enough soft and top fruit to last the whole year from the fences of a tiny back garden covered with cordons)
Hi Kathryn, I’m not sure what the answer is. On my site they’ve divided up plots so that you can have a half plot which are really quite small and yet they have still gone untouched this year. It’s easy enough to pay £5 and think you’ll get up there at some point but what’s £5 if you never do get to use the plot. I’m only grumpy about it because the plot next to mine has 8ft tall weeds there at the moment. 🙂 WW
Nothing more annoying than someone else’s weed seeds – some allotment societies take a strimmer to any plot where the holder does that. Well justified I’d say
Wonderful!
I don’t think I’ll take a photo of my plot until I’ve done my ‘Back from holiday tidy’…
I hope you can stay and enjoy your plot for many more years.
Sara
http://www.HenCorner.com
Thank you, Sara. The photos were taken from the plot best side. There’s quite a bit of mess hidden at the back!
Sounds lovely. I had an allotment too, just up the lane from my house, away from the infernal trampoline next door (bring me the head of the person who marketed garden trampolines) which cost the princely sum of £6.50 per year. It had not been cultivated for years and took weeks to clear all the weeds, but it was a quiet haven that I loved. When I left England last year, I cried at the loss of that patch of land.
Ah, the joys of the next door trampoline. Ours is particularly noisy since it belongs to a severely autistic child who has no other pleasures or activities. I wouldn’t put anything in her way for the world, and her father, who cares for her is heroic, but sometimes I feel like moving house to get away
I was worried I’d sound like a real killjoy when I mentioned trampolines. I think they are a great idea for kids to get fresh air and exercise. It’s more that one of the kids that uses it has a particularly irritating habit of high-pitched screeching which goes on and on. Still at least I have my plot to escape to!
Thank you Thursday, It’s strange isn’t it, how a simple patch of ground can mean so much? Hope you’re still growing now without an allotment.
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What a lovely, lovely post
K
As Karen said, a really lovely post Welly Woman. You perfectly describe all that is best about allotments. And I agree about those trampolines – it makes me sad that so many houses around us in Cemaes are holiday homes, but at least it means there aren’t anything like as many of the wretched things as we had back in Wickwar! I hope you don’t have to deal with redundancy and moving etc. and look forward to reading more about your plotting adventures.
Thanks, hoping we won’t have to move too. It is sad when places are so quiet because they’re holiday homes but I guess the silver lining to that is the peace and quiet.
The world fades away when I’m in the veg garden, even though I’m yards away from the nearby flats. For me, it’s as much about being busy outdoors and having a creative outlet (finding the beauty in the smallest flower, or colour combination) as it is about putting fresh veg on the dinner table. I can get totally absorbed in photographing a flower or bees around the alliums but would love to look up to see a view like yours. I sometimes resist going down to the garden as there’s always other things that need doing but, once I do, my son knows I won’t be back soon.
Love the photos of your plot, it’s really nice to see the space that inspires the blog. What are those tall red flowers, 2nd photo?
Thanks, Caro. The tall red flowers are Sweet williams. Part of a seed mix.
Great post. Especially relate to your point that says it has made you feel more attached to your place. Have been a professional travel photographer for 20+ years, it was after getting our allotment that I suddenly felt more settled. Now I mix travel photography with garden photography, a great match. My allotment feels too like my patch of land that I am custodian of, the place I go to retreat and escape time. My mobile phone free zone!
Thanks, Stephen. That sounds like a great combination – travel and gardening photography. I do sometimes wish I could just go out into my garden and pick my fruit and veg but I do like having to go to the plot. I work from home so it’s a good excuse to get me out of the house. 😉