Freyja's allotment

Something like 4 years ago, Freyja was minded (for reasons I have never entirely fathomed) to ring the Sheffield City Council and ask what steps you needed to take to apply for an allotment.  I don't think she was actually intending to apply for one.  She just wanted to know the procedure.

Somewhat to her surprise, they put her on a waiting list pretty much there and then.

Then certainly I, and I think also she, completely forgot all about it.  So she was somewhat surprised to get a letter telling her that she was now at the top of the list and that her allotment was waiting for her. I was extremely surprised, having not thought about Freyja in allotment terms for at least 4 years!

So yesterday Tabitha and Cally went and collected the key to the allotment site (no keys required in Tupton or, indeed, in Hangingwater) and Freyja and I arranged to meet each other and then Tabitha and Cally to go and inspect the said allotment, before Freyja and I went to our evening Japanese class.

So far, so easy.

Tabitha and Cally had successfully collected the key to Allotment #10, Meersbrook and headed off in the direction the allotment people said the site was.  Hmmm.  Key didn't fit.  So they headed to another allotment site in the same local area.  Hmmm. Key didn't fit. Tabitha rang Freyja.

In the meantime, Freyja and I had no idea where we were going, so headed to Meersbrook Park. Ambled into the Park Office just as it was closing and followed the instructions the nice lady gave us and headed to the allotment site, where we met Tabitha and Cally (who had already been there once that afternoon).  The key definitely did not fit. But the gates were open, do we headed in and parked the car.

A nice man came past and informed us that these were not the Meersbrook allotments but the Norton Lees allotments.  The Meersbrook ones were down that hill there.  Somewhere. He and I consulted our road atlases and decided that we could probably make out where we should be going. It wasn't any of the allotment sites that had been drawn to our attention or that Tabitha had visited!!

At this point, Tabitha and Cally, having spent a pleasant afternoon wandering around various Sheffield allotment sites in the sunshine decided to cut their losses and go home. Freyja and I programmed the sat nav and headed off, determined at the very least to find the site before heading to Japanese.

The key fitted - although the padlock was extremely awkward to get to. But we did manage to open the gate. Of the Heeley, rather than the Meersbrook, allotment site

Right.  So where is #10.  Freyja thought the map she had seen suggested it was up towards the top. So towards the top we headed, passing variously allotments ##64, 69, 239, 375, 420, the number sequences apparently being random.  We went back down and decided to see if we could find any order to the numbers.

Time marched on. We got lost!

We headed back to the gate and tried again. Can't be that hard to find, surely?

Time marched on some more.  We got lost again. And we really, really need to leave RIGHTNOWTHISVERYMINUTE if we are going to go to our class.  But we also by now REALLYREALLYREALLYREALLY wanted to find this elusive allotment.

And how do we get back to the car?

We headed back to the gate.  NO CAR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  It was the wrong gate :-S

At about this point I remembered that I had a smart phone in my pocket and decided to have a look on Googlemaps and see if that might shed any light on (i) where the car was and (ii) where the allotment was.  It didn't.  But the allotment website did. It had a plan of the site!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  We were definitely at the wrong gate.

Eventually we found the right gate (and the car) and following the plan managed to find allotment #10 in short order.  I wonder why it didn't cross my mind to consult my phone until 45 minutes had passed and we had got lost several times?

The allotment itself has obviously, once upon a time, been much loved and much looked after.  I have absolutely no doubt that it was held up as a shining example of a beautiful and productive allotment.  Alas, that is no longer the case.  The rather magnificent glasshouse is in dire need of repair. The shed has no roof. The allotment is overgrown and full of nettles and bindweed and real rubbish.  It would be the sort of challenge The Builder and I would probably relish, had we not already got an allotment and a large garden (and also not living very handily either to Heeley or to Meersbrook). But we would certainly find it a challenge. Freyja is a novice gardener. Many new allotment holders are novice gardeners.  It is no wonder new allotmenters tend to give up quite quickly if this is the sort of thing councils present novice gardeners with!

We will take The Builder round with us one evening to have a look at it, and we can all three have a proper assessment. It is complicated by the fact that Freyja is moving to London to go to Uni in the autumn and will only be around for some weekends.  But if nothing else we can get her some peas and potatoes and maybe even some beans and zucchinis before then.

I'll keep you informed!

Freyja's allotment. Click on the photo to get to the album

We didn't get to the Japanese class in the end. We went to Woodseats and met Tabitha, Cally and Gareth for pizza instead. The poor Builder missed out on all this unexpected excitement. He was at home eating left over pork stew and watching telly