Nosing Around

I love having a look at other people's allotments. It's fascinating to see what they're growing and the way that they lay out their plot. I'm also interested in the solutions they've found to get water to their plot or the constructions that have been created to act as sheds and greenhouses. Whether I get a fleeting glance from a train or bus window or can poke my head over a fence to look more closely it always puts me in a good mood to see a well cared for allotment flourishing.

I was up in Berwick-Upon-Tweed a week or so ago and that's where I saw these wonderful allotments right in the centre of town. For those of you who have never visited Berwick, it is a beautiful, old walled town right on the border between England and Scotland. As with many similar places like York and Chester space is limited within the walls so many houses do not have gardens at all; historically most growing would have taken place outside the walls with people living inside the walls for protection. This lack of space is what makes it all the more admirable that the people of Berwick have managed to find space to squeeze in these allotments; and they've been there for some time by the look of the big old wall that surrounds them.

Out of a matter of interest the house that you can see on the right of the picture has its own interesting story to tell. Lowry used to spend a lot of time on holidays in Berwick and did many paintings up there. In fact, he loved it so much that he wanted to move up there and this house is the place that he really wanted to live. Unfortunately this never happened but, if it had, we may have had some atmospheric Lowry paintings of allotments inspired by the view he would have had out of his window!

Comments

[properties philippines]

Wow, you have a very beautiful article. I like this article and its so very interesting. Thank you for posting it.

Deirdre G

[Jo]

What an interesting post. I love looking round other people's allotments too. I'm nosey like that!