Day 84 - Feeding a nation: Part II

Now let's turn our attention to something that is found in many towns in Britain and that is the modern "allotment."  As Angela wrote yesterday, the concept of the allotment has been around for hundreds of years, but today's allotments are really an extension of a time in the early 19th century when social welfare policy was non-existent so a solution to help the disadvantaged was to set aside land for the poor so that they could grow food for their own consumption.

In the First World War, the UK government encouraged the development of allotments to assist in providing food as part of the war effort. All municipal properties,such as parks, commons or building plots, were turned over to be used for growing food. Prior to the war, there were approximately half a million allotments, and after the war that number was three times larger. It was estimated by that point the production of vegetables had reached over 2 million tonnes of produce.

When soldiers returned from the First World War they were then also given access to land, thus expanding the concept to include more of society. In the mid 1920s, the UK government enacted legislation that required local authorities to set aside lands that they could not sell without government consent and these lands would be used for the purpose of public allotments that would allow anyone to garden fruits, tubers and vegetables.

When the Second World War broke out, the blockading of the UK again put pressure on producing local food. However, because the concept of allotments had been in place for decades, they were able to add 500,000 more allotments within the first year of that war. They continued to be useful after the end of the war as rationing meant limited food availability until when rationing finally ended in 1954.

The concept went into decline during the 1960s and '70s as pressure to expand housing meant local councils were hesitant about allocating land for allotments. Yet the allotment has helped the country through two world wars, and today there still remain 300,000 local council-owned allotments with another 90,000 people on a  waiting list to get their little patch of garden.

Ange and I walk past them all the time when we head out on our local walks, and now we see them in a slightly different light.



Ale of the Day: Hoggett, Cotswold Lion Brewery, Cheltenham, Gloucestershire