Forty plots, two fields

The plots

Drawn as they lie on the ground, back row first. Hover a plot for what the committee knows about it — which ones flood, which are shady, and which share a water butt.

Top field

20 plots · 2 free

Above the path. Drier, windier, and the first to warm up in March.

1 5r

2 5r

3 10r

4 5r

5 5r

6 2.5r

7 2.5r

8 5r

9 5r

10 10r

11 5r

12 5r

13 5r

14 2.5r

15 2.5r

16 5r

17 10r

18 5r

19 5r

20 5r

Bottom field

20 plots · 1 free

Below the path towards the brook. Heavier soil and a late frost pocket at the far end.

21 5r

22 5r

23 2.5r

24 2.5r

25 10r

26 5r

27 5r

28 5r

29 5r

30 2.5r

31 2.5r

32 5r

33 10r

34 5r

35 5r

36 5r

37 5r

38 2.5r

39 5r

40 5r

Let: Being worked. Most change hands every few years.
Free now: Being offered to the top of the waiting list this month.
Being cleared: Given up over winter. We strim and cover it before it is offered.

Free today

3 plots · offered in order of the list

Plot 4 Half plot · 5 rods
£24 a year Shady western end — soft fruit does better here than roots.
Plot 15 Quarter plot · 2.5 rods
£14 a year Nearest the gate and the tap. Goes quickly.
Plot 34 Half plot · 5 rods
£24 a year Wet through the winter. Raised beds, or grow late.

Put your name down

You can turn a plot down without losing your place.

Being cleared

Handed back and not yet ready. We would rather strim, cover and hand over something workable than give somebody a plot of couch grass and watch them give up by August.

Plot 10 10 rods

Given up in November. Strimmed and covered; ready in the spring.
Plot 26 5 rods

Bindweed. We are covering it for a full season before it goes back out.
Plot 39 5 rods

The shed came down in the February gales. New holder gets a clear slab.

Rods, and what they mean in the evening

Allotments are still measured in rods, a medieval unit of five and a half yards. Ten rods is the traditional full plot: enough to feed a family, and enough to lose a summer to.

Full plot: 10 rods · 253 m²; About the size of a doubles tennis court. Two evenings a week in summer, honestly.
Half plot: 5 rods · 126 m²; What we give most new plot holders. You can take on the other half later.
Quarter plot: 2.5 rods · 63 m²; Enough for salad, beans and a soft fruit cage. Popular with people who work weekends.