The allotment project
‘The Allotment’ project was created in partnership with Kenilworth Allotment Tenants Association.
Between March and September 2002, allotment holders from Kenilworth photographed the growing season on their plots and kept gardening diaries. These were used to create a beautiful exhibition book.
Green genes
“I’ve got great memories of being about three years old and being put in the wheelbarrow and wheeled off to the allotment with my grandfather.”
“My father had his plot before I was born. We used to go down there as children and we all had a piece on father’s plot, he gave us a little piece each… I first grew flowers mostly. In those days you could get a penny packet of seed… we used to have a penny packet of pansies and water them to death!”
Good reasons to grow your own
“There’s something exceptionally better about the taste of all the produce from the allotment… I think everyone you could talk to who grows their own fruit and vegetables would tell you that.”
“I like the exercise, I like the outdoor life, I like… to go down there and listen to the birdsong, to be with nature and to generally be doing something useful.”
“I do it because I find it therapeutic. You come home from the rat race, the hustle and bustle, things perhaps not gone your way at work and you can spend half an hour in the garden or down the allotment, on your own, just with the plants, and somehow or other it calms you down.”
The shed
“I’ve got two chairs in it and when it’s raining I go there. To somebody who doesn’t know gardening they might think it’s a bit untidy, but actually, I know where everything is myself. I’ve even got a little bit of Axminster carpet! Yes, it’s like a little home! Sometimes I have a cup of tea there, you know, and a piece of cake at lunchtime, it’s very nice.”
“I inherited a shed, a nice little shed – it’s waterproof and, it’s just enough to keep tools and shelter from the rain! … I’ve got a deckchair, I took it down there with the intention of sitting out, but I’ve never found the time to sit in it so far!”
A plot for all seasons
“I don’t have a favourite time. I appreciate all times, and certain days the weather is such that it’s absolutely beautiful to be there, although the sun might not be shining.”
“In summer you can go down there so early, you can go at five o’clock in the morning. It’s great to be there, with birds giving it what-for. The autumn gives you such fantastic harvests and colours. The winter’s great because you tend to have more time, you get more peace down there, there’s nobody operating machinery and there’s lots of digging to do. Spring – it’s all a rush!”
