Plot owner T considered himself the ‘worst combination of the two types of allotmenteers’ on this site. He described himself as a man of the older generation who likes to see things done in a certain way, but also considered himself very much more like one of the younger bunch when it comes to growing on the allotments, essentially not really knowing what he was doing. He had been on the allotment for over four years now and shared the plot with his wife, or ‘his bride’ as he preferred to call her. Plot owner T made it quite clear that his bride was the brains behind the plot layout and crop growing, and he quite happily took on the manual labour side of duties. There was also a divide amongst the plot itself, 2/3rds full of fruit and 1/3 full of vegetables, which according to T echoed the ratio of power in the family household (he preferred the veg but his bride liked fruit).

Plot owner T also told me how he first came to look around the site and pick which plot he and his wife would have. They chose the current plot because it was near a water tap, was situated in a quiet and peaceful corner and overlooked a pleasant wooded area. However, they soon discovered that the attractive location and surroundings of the nearby huddle of trees that initially attracted them, was in fact stealing a lot of the sun from their plot, and further continued to shed a wave of leaves onto their crops on a regular basis. The leaves are now an ongoing battle for the couple and their plot maintenance.

This particular allotment site was under considerable threat a number of years ago, with plans from local authorities to create a huge waterway through the middle of the allotment site, dividing the community and removing nearly a third of all plots. Through a massive campaign from the local community to stop the proposed waterway plans, thousands of signatures were collected to force the allotment to remain safely untouched. Plot owner T explained that it was a great example of community spirit within the allotment site but did also point out that secretly when he heard that the proposed waterway would involve also cutting down the row of woodland trees, a part of him really wanted to see the trees come down, even with a new waterway attached! Plot owner T had always stated that gardening was not his best talent and if the waterway was to go ahead he could always transfer his ‘novice allotmenteer skills to novice gondolier skills, rowing leisurely down the water selling Venetian ice cream to other allotment members’. He thought he could probably make a tidy profit with this new hobby too.