Are allotment rents reasonable?

[Mikey]

This is a topic that comes up again and again, and I'm not sure if its people genuinely interested in finding out if they have a fair deal or showing off about how little they pay. I personally think its like finding out if the person next to you in work is earning more than you when they don't work as hard. You were happy before you knew and bitter and twisted afterwards.

I'm happy with what I pay and happy not to read how much you all pay.

[Linzy]

i can only go by my own experience i have a have 1/2 plot with a tap for £22 per year. All the seeds i used are free from the gyo mag which i would buy even if i didn't have an allotment and other than a pack of seed potatoes that is my cost for the year. I think its a pretty cheap hobby. I still have to buy alot of fruit and veg throughout the year but i enjoy gardening, so for me its worth it

[Matthewfez]

I took on a half plot (60ft x 22ft) a few months back and I pay £41.50 (£55 for a full plot). I think it's great value. Interesting how plots differ in size by quite a bit around the country.

[GardenGayle]

[QUOTE=Olorin2001;1190042]There was a time in the not too distant past when people were far healthier than today,
During WW2 there was rationing, you can google it and see what they had to live on, there were no food banks then, you went hungry.
England won a war on that diet.
QUOTE]

I have seen reports that for whatever reason vegetables had a lot more nutrients back then, I cant remember the exact statistics but there was a massive variation. Cant remember when I read it now though

[Aberdeenplotter]

England won a war on that diet??? I don't think so

Don't know how I missed that when it was posted first.

As for vegetables having more nutrients back then. You must have read it in a newspaper!!

[Thelma Sanders]

As for vegetables having more nutrients back then. You must have read it in a newspaper!!

Not a newspaper - the Government's own Composition of Foods Tables, read the Abstract here

Emerald | British Food Journal | Historical changes in the mineral content of fruits and vegetables

or pdf here
http://www.goodgardeners.org.uk/page...les_06_pdf.pdf

[Aberdeenplotter]

The changes could have been caused by anomalies of measurement or sampling, changes in the food system, changes in the varieties grown or changes in agricultural practice

the above extract says it all. Eggs need to be compared with eggs

[andy_j]

We had our AGM this week. We've had a huge water leak resulting in a £600 bill. There was just not enough money in the coffers to cover it. It was voted that everyone should make a one off payment of £1.50 per rod of allotment you have. I have 10 rod so was happy to cough up an extra £15.

We also voted to voluntarily (proposed by allotment members not committee) put up the annual charge from £3 a rod per annum to £4.50 providing the extra cash would be used to benefit the plot holders eg build a community shed, make the paths safer etc etc.

[Alison]

Got my bill for the next year the other day, £24 for a full proper sized plot and it would be half that if I were over 65 which is excellent. If I were ever asked to vote on it I'd say to keep the rent low and not have any extras as I don't think I'd ever really use them. We're only a small site so just a single wide pathway down the middle which we look after ourselves, no communal areas / buildings to maintain (I'd not use them anyway, not got the time) and I'm not convinced that expensive security fences make the place any safer but make it look like it's worth breaking into. There was a brief discussion among a few plot holders a couple of years ago about if we'd like a toilet provided but the consensus was that we were better off with our own buckets anyway as they had no maintenance, and were totally fit for purpose without causing extra work. Consider myself very lucky.

[Snailfox]

I only have a half plot, but was shocked by how reasonable it was when I first got it almost a year ago.

[Greenleaves]

Even at £4.20 a rod I believe it is great value, as an ex smoker I now seehow much it really cost. What price fresh air, great tasting produce and a great community on the allotment

[greenishfing]

We pay just under £80 for 2 plots with water. That's about £1.50 per week. It has got to be amazing value. About 7 years ago, before we got the allotment, our fruit and veg bill was about £20 a week on the local market (I dread to think what we would spend now) Although we're not vegetarians we do eat mainly fruit and veg.

Now we only seem to buy bananas, oranges, lemons and mushrooms. We are pretty much self sufficient for vegetables and salad ingredients and also have grapes, melons, raspberries, strawberries apples, pears, plums and cherries. We freeze our surplus and make jam, jelly and chutney.

Obviously we put a lot of hard work in and there is the price of seeds etc but we save a lot of money by having our allotments and get exersize.

[Jennysheepdog]

£32 it is a bargain

[HavercroftHomegrowns]

£20 per year for my plot including running water, I have no complaints whatsoever, infact, I can't think of anywhere else I can gets hours of r&r for that price and free food on top of it