Published on 01 August 2017
It's National Allotments Week between 11-17 August 2025, and now is a brilliant time to be friends with an allotment holder. Every available bag, pocket or crook of the arm will be carrying or cradling some sort of fresh produce.
And stalks and boughs and furrows are groaning and bulging with among other things blackberries, raspberries, runner beans, rhubarb, plums, squashes, beetroot, tomatoes, cucumber, lettuce, spring onions, carrots, a few cauliflowers - and the odd weed.
But no bother; the beauty of hoiking those out plus pruning and watering and harvesting the rest is it burns 300 calories an hour, the same as low-impact aerobics. With the added bonus of fresh air and bird song and butterflies and bees for company together with hundreds of other species and an escape from the modern world for a little while. If the weather is kind, there is some vitamin D to be had from the sunshine too.
The pastime, being celebrated during National Allotment Week, which starts on 11 August, has enjoyed a resurgence in popularity in recent years, meaning there have been waiting lists full for them up and down the country.
An allotment is traditionally marked out in rods, perches or poles, an old form of measurement dating back to Anglo-Saxon times. Ten poles-worth is the accepted size, about that of a tennis court. As well as many a misshaped vegetable being pulled from the ground at the moment, there is a riot of colour with sunflowers, dahlias, cornflowers and marigolds blooming.
Find out how an allotment can help with your health and wellbeing on the National Allotment Society website.