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There are 12 articles about allotments here on this Elliott & Thompson book.
In 2020, a study found 64% of allotments in London were occupied by women, prompting articles on the reasons why. Previously a male domain, women wanted to celebrate their spaces, and now books including this one, want to look at the reasons why.
Headline contributor Alice Vincent has written a book called Why Women Grow and her piece in this book digs into the same question. She visits Vimbai's plot and hears that her London allotment is welcoming in a world which often isn't. She grows peas there and enjoys eating them. She doesn't usually like peas.
Sui Searle likes the community aspect of meeting in shared spaces. People with different backgrounds and outlooks find shared interests and the "potential to be relational" while nurturing plants that sustain us.
Healther Leigh and David Keenan's piece is in the form of a chat on the plot. Leigh begins by saying she has learnt "patterns of life and death" on the allotment.
Graeme Rigby finds a community of men talking on allotments in pieces taken from a 1992 Newcastle council book Peaceable Kingdoms.
Sara Venn has made a career in community growing with Edible Bristol. Like Vincent, she doesn't have an allotment at the moment. But she feels the pull to have one. This book will inspire more people to cherish allotments.
