What does your site provide ??

[gilwrig]

We have a 10ft fence with hedges against it and 2 locked gates.

There are taps, a storage shed and a community room with a kettle and books and stuff.

We can't have structures or ponds of any kind.

[binley100]

Could you not look into turning it into an association so that you run your own funds and lease the land off the council. Then whatever money you raise whether it be from rents or open days etc can then be used for doing whatevers needed.

[Alison]

We get a patch of earth and that's it, no fence, no gate, no water (other than what comes out of the sky), no electricity, no toilets and any sheds etc are what we provide ourselves. To be honest I prefer it like that as I don't see the need for any of the things we don't have.

[Sueby]

Hi, you can get funding for fences etc if you have an allotment association with a proper set up of policies etc and a constitution. My site is council owned but we have our own association which is pushing for clearance of the site. Look on the council web site to see what you should be getting!!

[Storming Norman]

We get 2 taps for 32 plots.

The grass patch down the middle gets mown when they mow the park [which is where we are].

Quite a lot of the leaves from the park get dumped on a communal compost heap for us to help ourselves [and more outside our gate], also sometimes the grass cuttings if we are really good.

We have a strong gate [which is a long way from my plot unfortunately] and no chance of getting anything in to the gate by car - because of the park - so we get a long walk through the park with a barrow of muck etc from our cars. We certainly get a lot of funny looks over that one!

We have a fantastic hedge all spiky and overgrown - so we get to cut our hedge first when we get allocated a plot. Then we find we have nowhere for the cuttings and no chance of having a fire - so we get lots of pea sticks and cuttings stuffed into the hedge to make it even stronger and more impenetrable.

We even get to take no notice of the no fire rule and then sometimes really annoy the bowlers in the park with flying speckles of soot. We also don't welsh on each other here you know so we get protection from any complaints that might cause.

We get a big list of rules that no one bothers with.

Best of all we get the most disorganised council I have ever seen - we get to laugh at them a lot. They often try to let plots that are already taken and clearly being worked, and leave others abandoned despite a quite big waiting list. We get to write to the papers every now and then to remind those on the list that they don't know who is on the list or where they are so why not just insist on a plot and tell them you have been on the list for 2 years - they really don't know.

Oh and we get the opportunity to be locked in at night when they lock up the park without any warning - and one of our number even got the police out on that one.

[binley100]

Bet the poleece were real happy with that one .

[Shadylane]

We pay 8 quid a year now, went up 50p at the last AGM but that was to go towards the kitty. It also includes subscriptions so I think the council get about £6.50. That said we have a fence and that's it. The council paid for it but the lottie folk erected it themsleves. There's no water, skip or manure delivery but there is access to the plots by car/van/truck load of poo or whatever. We can have sheds/greenhouses and there is a big metal communal lock up to store tools. You can buy stuff like fertilser, compost lime etc from a shed which is located at another site. We can also order spuds en masse through the society. We got 3kg each of desiree and pentland javelin for £4.50(no P&P fee). It's a basic site but it's also cheap as chips and the other stuff you can get round easy enough.
Oh and we are allowed fires

[Paulottie]

Water, fire, earth, open sky and beautiful views........all for £15 inc water. if your lucky you might get a greenhouse ...no sheds, facilities, fences, services, shop, association....but then the manager is a great bloke

[Two_Sheds]

They're trying to push a new tenancy agreement on us that will stop s lighting fires.

that's not the end of the world though: councils get tons of complaints about bonfires and I hate being choked by them when I'm working my plot too.

The only time I had a fire was when I had tons of dry brambles that wouldn't rot: but I kept them under a tarp until they were crispy dry, then burned them hot & fast (hardly any smoke). Nov 5th would be the ideal day for concealing a site bonfire? We used to do that on my old site.

I never need to burn stuff: perennial weeds like couch etc. get drowned in a bucket and poured on the compost heap when they're dead. I had four water butts full of them when I started this plot.

No need for "green waste bins" either. We had one on my old site, but it was badly abused, with some sneaky burgers dumping household rubbish, bits of old cars etc on it. It was more trouble than it was worth.

[Hans Mum]

They're trying to push a new tenancy agreement on us that will stop s lighting fires.

We cant have fires either we back up to houses on one side & as TS says its not the end of the world, we do have an area where people can put non-compastable stuff & we usually have a big bonfire on or near Nov 5th cause nobody complains then

[jackie j]

We have a gate but you can walk around it to get into site, plenty of water troughs on mains water, bonfires allowed any day after 4pm, no toilets, grass cut by another plot holder, path upkeep is up to plot holders to do the ones between plots.

[Paulottie]

Yeah...I go with a policy of not allowing bonfires without specific permission between May and August bank Holidays...even then mostly we have a communal heap and I try to encourage evening/dull day burning.

The trouble is it only takes one inconsiderate twit to light a green heap on the nicest weekend of summer to cause friction with our neighbours.

My problem is one of the neighbours keeps putting his cypressa hedge on the pile and when we do manage to burn it for him he'll sneak out an start burning mattresses etc....sorry i'm starting to rant off topic but you should have seen the rat that had been made its home in the heap its taken me 1/2 a winter to get sorted.....Ahhhhhhhhhhh.......this is the same neighbour that spent her life moaning to the parigh council about people dumping their hedges in the woods and hasn't got th message when all the metal etc from the fire was was dumped in their gate last year.... apologies

AS I say it is fine but then you get one thoughtless idle pratt so it becomes necessary/easier to ban fires altogether

[geoff]

All allotments in Kendal are managed by the Town Council; there are about 15 but some are quite small, with just a few plots on them
We get a fence & gate in various states of repair, free water, the occasional skip and manure, and an allotment officer who allocates plots and sorts out minor problems
We are allowed to have fires , sheds, and greenhouses. The council is quite sympathetic over any requests, but is limited by the money available
The waiting lists have become longer over the past couple of years and they have said they are going to devote most of their efforts to finding new land, extending existing sites and seeing if anyone with 2 or more plots would be willing to give one up; also becoming a bit firmer over anyone who is neglecting their plot
Because of the scattered nature of the sites we are trying to organise more contact between plot - holders, with meetings in a pub, voluntary work groups for any newcomer who has a lot of clearing to do, exchanging seeds and unwanted tools, and so on; but at this stage without becoming a formal association. The Council has given its blessing and will print newsletters and notices
There is an annual competition for all gardens, allotments ( both overall site and individual plots), landscaping and decoration outside pubs and businesses with prizes of GC tokens. This is organised by the Council

[Pies]

A lock,a fence,water from april 1st to october 1st, 6 taps for 4 acres.I'm fine with that though

[zazen999]

I can't stand fires on lottie; when I'm working as it nearly kills me every time.

When we do it, and it's not often - we make sure the wind is blowing away from the houses and nobody else is around. We also use one of those incinerators with the chimney lid so you don't get smoke all everywhere.

When others do it [well, some of them] they just pile a huge heap up, light it and disappear off even though we are still on site. I have been very rude with them in the past and I have no option but to go home and cough myself senseless in the privacy of my own home. Not good when you've cycled there in the first place.

The only thing we ever burn is mare's tail; we stick it all in the incinerator and do one burning a year. Everything else gets other treatment, drowning or drying out or composted. All wood gets taken home in the winter and burnt in our woodburner. I think banning bonfires on lotties is a jolly good idea; they should let them have one a year, bonfire night and be done with it.