Over the last few months we have all no doubt heard the stories in the news about supermarkets limiting the amount of items we can buy, empty shelves, tomatoes and peppers not available due to the cold weather in Spain, poultry and egg shortages because of the restrictions around the avian flu epidemic, as well as people being encouraged to eat less meat because of the impact its production has on the environment.

By the Ottery St Mary Friends of Phyllis Baxter in collaboration with Adrian Forster & Martha Thomas.

How many of us have then asked ourselves: Should we start seriously thinking about becoming more self sufficient? Aren’t we lucky that in 2015 the then Members of the Town Council negotiated with the construction company of a new development in Butts Road to replace the old allotments and deliver a new site in one of the town’s most beautiful settings. Let’s explore what the benefits are of having an allotment.

We contacted Glyn Dobson and Ian Holmes OSM Town Council Mayor and Chairman of Planning respectively when in 2015 the land in Ridgeway, purchased by Redrow developers as part of a Section 106 deal for their development in Butts Road, was handed over to the town council. Glyn and Ian had this to say: “We already had allotments in Ottery, but the developers were taking them away, so they provided the land for new ones as a public relations action. At first someone said ‘nothing will ever grow in there’ but the Council at the time and the developers put thousands of pounds in order to create 95 plots, with several allotments with access to disabled users”.

“We managed the project from the beginning and thanks to everyone’s work; we turned a field that people feared things would never grow, into a gardener’s paradise. Nowhere in the area can parking spaces be found next to individual allotments, sheds, water troughs and rabbit proof fencing."

Having an allotment has many benefits such as giving you plenty of fresh air, enjoy the produce obtained by their hard work and making what you eat more sustainable. We also got in touch with Adrian Forster and Martha Thomas winners of the Bob Johnson Cup in 2022 for the best allotment on the council site, to get their thoughts on the benefits of having an allotment in their own hometown.

“People have various reasons for having an allotment from the priority of growing healthy, cost effective food to having healthy exercise or enjoying the community aspects of allotments. Of course these benefits are not mutually exclusive and many people enjoy all those aspects and more.

“It is also fair to say a lot of hard work is involved and a long term strategy is needed to build up the fertility of the soil. This is where composting comes in and friends with horses become even more treasured!

“Setting priorities is a good approach because space is always at a premium, particularly if adequate crop rotation is to be maintained, an essential ingredient to maintaining fertility and avoiding pests and diseases. So high value crops like broad beans, runner beans, Florence fennel, garlic and new (not main crop) potatoes, gooseberries, blueberries and tayberries work well for us. Perpetual spinach (leaf beet) is a must as it is available pretty much all year. There are plenty of YouTube ‘how to’ videos to help people.

“On a more aspirational level, we need to reduce the distance between food production and consumption, harness energy innovations and bring back a rich variety of horticulture at local levels. The recent upturn in excellent farm shops in the Ottery St Mary area is a wonderful step towards a healthy and sustainable future”.

When asking Martha about having won the cup in 2022 she recalled: "The cup is in memory of the late Bob Johnson-it means a lot to us because he did so much to make the original allotments work and we got to know him well over the years. Adrian, who was allotment chairman around 2008, asked Bob's widow if the cup could be named after Bob and she agreed."

Do you think you could eat more sustainably? Well, let’s stop talking and get planting.