Other allotments

Our allotments, perhaps typically of East Anglia are fairly denuded of trees, except where we have planted hedging recently, and most plots are surrounded by pallets or the infamous orange builders fencing. The photos below show two wooded allotment sites from the North of England, taken in 2012.

The first is in the city of Durham. This site is very picturesque, and we know a bit of its history from a description of the site, which is displayed at its entrance. Originally the site was a quarry which, in Mediaeval times, was excavated to provide stone for Durham cathedral just across the river (you can see the cathedral in the background). Eventually the sandstone was all removed and when they got down to shale at the base, stopped quarrying. Next, because of being on a hillside and having formed a depression which collected water, the monks dug out ponds and used these to rear fish for food. Over the intervening centuries the ponds must have silted up, or it was no longer necessary to rear fish in this way, and the land reverted to wilderness. In more recent times, the site was used to form allotments, and as you can see, forms a very lush and sheltered site, with a network of paths winding amongst th plots, and no vehicular access.

The second site is in the village of Staithes, North Yorkshire, right on the coast. The site only appears to have a handful of working plots, but was obviously allocated to a steep hillside, which was of little use for anything else. Plots have been literally hewn out of the wooded hillside, which rises from the beck at the bottom (with stepping stones) up to the houses on the cliff top. It can't be an easy site to get to either with wheel barrow or car ! The site is less then half a mile from the sea, and probably gets a good dose of salty sea spray when the weather is rough.

As you are travelling around the country, do you ever see allotments which look pretty, interesting, well kept, difficult to manage ? Why not write a short report for the next newsletter ?