The telegraph has an article about these British institutions that tend to have sheds on them
photo credit: steve p2008
For those of us who have been ploughing our often lonely furrows for several decades, it is great news that the National Trust is converting some of its rolling acres into 1,000 or so allotments. If nothing else, it raises the status of our compulsive hobby. No longer are we gardeners ragged-trousered eccentrics, but admirable pioneers, helping to save the planet.
Allotments were introduced by philanthropic Victorians to provide a healthy diet and lifestyle for factory workers – and today, when their appeal has crossed the class divide, they offer the same benefits. To nurture a tiny seed until it becomes a plump pumpkin or parsnip fulfils a basic human instinct; digging the first new potato is better for body and soul than turning into one on a couch in front of the TV or laptop.
If you look out of the window of the train next time you go past a site, you will see the familiar and comforting tumbledown sheds, wonky beanpoles, strips of ragged carpet to stifle the weeds and chains of old DVDs flapping in the breeze in a vain attempt to deter pigeons.
