The parish council provided allotments just on the outskirts of the village at the end of 2010 after a number of parishioners registered a interest in growing their own vegetables.
Allotments have been in existence for hundreds of years, with evidence pointing back to Anglo-Saxon times. But the system we recognise today has its roots in the Nineteenth Century, when land was given over to the labouring poor for the provision of food growing. This measure was desperately needed thanks to the rapid industrialisation of the country and the lack of a welfare state. In 1908 the Small Holdings and Allotments Act came into force, placing a duty on local authorities to provide sufficient allotments, according to demand. However it wasn’t until the end of the First World War that land was made available to all, primarily as a way of assisting returning service men (Land Settlement Facilities Act 1919) instead of just the labouring poor.
Despite the statutory obligation on local authorities to provide allotments where there is a demand, there are still very few sites being created each year. However the trend in people wanting to grow their own food is on the rise, and currently it is estimated that over 90,000 gardeners want an allotment and are on waiting lists. (This figure does not include the numbers held by Parish or Town Council and so could be much higher.)
Trends show that during times of recession people turn back to the land, wanting to reconnect with something tangible while at the same time experience home-grown food, which costs less and is better for us. The Dig for Victory campaign during the 1940s coupled with the grey of the post war years saw a rise in people taking up allotments. At its height there were over 1.5million allotment sites across the UK. The 1970s with its three day week and trade union unrest saw another desire for self-sustainability, immortalised in the BBC show The Good Life. Today, with our economic uncertainly on a global scale, the desire for more space to grow food locally and experience life’s simple pleasures has reignited the call for more allotments. Current figures suggest there are approximately 330,000 allotment sites in the UK, but we need in the region of another 90,000, to meet demand.
This cache contains a log sheet & very small pencil. There is also a orange halo figure attached to a trackable travel buddy for the first to find to move on please if possible. Once the travel bug has moved there may be a very small amount of space for other trackables to be left.
Please be careful of muggles working on their allotments although a couple of them are fellow geocachers most are not! Parking can be found nearby.