Page 50 - ALG Issue 1 2023

Eastern
Norfolk, Cambridgeshire, Suffolk, Essex, Bedfordshire, Buckinghamshire and Hertfordshire
Hale Road allotment site is 10 years old
Back in October 2012, 60 allotment plots were set up on a cereal stubble at the new Hale Road allotment site in Swavesey, between Cambridge and Huntingdon. 10 years later, 30 of the founding members are still working their plots, which is a clear success for a new allotment site. The total area of land within our perimeter fence is slightly over one hectare and it cost just over £14,000 to set up the site.
Swavesey Parish Council is the Allotment Association’s landlord, and the site is self-managed by a committee of 10 plotholders who maintain the waiting list, collect annual plot rents, pay the land rent, water rates, public liability insurance and sort hedge cutting, grass cutting, importing livestock manure or compost and other activities too tedious to mention here.
Because it was designed from scratch, our site has many benefits including:
Rabbit and deer-proof fencing all the way round: plot fences are not needed.
• Eight large water tanks such that nobody walks more than 30 metres to water.
• A large, solid car park with a wide entrance gate.
• Cattle manure, horse manure and local authority compost are always in the car park.
• A recycled produce and useful items cupboard.
Around three quarters of the work on- site is done by women and since there are also several children under the age of 12 years associated with the site, we installed a waterless, odour-free toilet in June 2016. It works by harnessing the power of the sun and wind to thoroughly dry the waste and we know it is well used because since then we have got through 4861⁄2 yards of toilet paper!
Our plotholders consist of individuals, couples, families both with young and older children, retired, working and young persons. From the outset, our
intention was to grow large yields of high-quality crops and since most of our plotholders are very busy people, we mainly apply the good practice of commercial farmers. Thus, we make appropriate use of agrochemicals, notably herbicides and insecticides, and of manufactured fertilisers. In truth, since we use very large amounts of
bulky organic manures which supply major nutrients and trace elements as well as organic matter, we mostly use only nitrogen fertiliser such as sulphate of ammonia or nitrochalk.
We decided at the start that a plot size of 10 poles was imprudently large for Swavesey residents and carried the risk that unused land would become weedy. So we went for half that size and settled on plots with dimensions of 22 m X 5.7
m (24 yds X 61⁄4 yds). All plotholders are relieved that we reduced the size and agree this is big enough to grow plenty of fresh food, while not being so big that digging in autumn and weed control throughout the season become difficult tasks. We also have several half-size plots. The main advantage that tenants find in having an allotment plot is that we have very fresh vegetables and fruit harvested on the day which taste better than produce from the supermarket. The next major benefit is that it allows us to keep active in the fresh air and physically fit without having to wear Lycra.
Our annual rent is £46 for a five-pole plot and £28 for a half plot. This is probably quite a bit more than on most sites, but we continue to have a healthy waiting list of people who are keen to join in the fun with a plot of their own. We have strict rules on good husbandry, particularly weed control, and our long waiting list allows us to successfully enforce them.
Average annual rainfall is low in our part of Cambridgeshire at only 547 mm (211⁄2
50 Allotment and Leisure Gardener