About the Hill

The allotments are laid out in a row from plot 1 at the bottom of the Hill (to the right of the entrance, which emerges at plot 18) up to plot 29 at the car park & club house to the left. Further to the left up the Hill, the allotments are off to the right & left of the roadway up to number 46.

The plots are a standard 250 sq yds in size – that’s about 22’ by 110’, & some of the plots are split into half plots (like ours), so there are over 70 allotment holders.

Edit to add: All of our plots are well tended (well, a couple a little 'scruffy', but nothing really unloved), a situation which the comittee keeps a very strict eye on. Allotment gardening is currently very popular for all sorts of reasons, and in common with all of our local authority allotment sites, we have a waiting list - ours contains about 15 names at present.

And that isn't a large redcurrant bush or bonfire just to the right of the entrance, it's our plot.

The club house is a ‘members only’ social club, with (cheap!) beer supplied by the excellent Banks brewery – there’s live entertainment every Saturday night, along with a free ‘n easy night & a monthly midweek entertainer.

There’s a communal polytunnel, basic gardening supplies from the shed (cheaper than the garden centre), tools to borrow, a library of gardening books & a seed swap tin.

This all promotes a sense of community at the Hill, for me the most surprising benefit of having an allotment– & of course it doesn’t happen by accident, but due to both the allotment holders & those people who are members of the social club on site.

The Committee pull it all together, but there are also people like Reg-next-plot who has organised a grow-spuds-in-a-growbag competition for club members & allotment holders this year, & John Badger from the bottom who has organised the library.

And of course the social event of the year is the Annual Show which is held in the club house & is open for allotment holders & club members alike – with flower, cakes & preserve categories along with the vegetable categories, a diary highlight!