7:00am Friday 19th February 2010
By Nigel Kerton
A group of gardeners in Aldbourne who faced being on the waiting list for years to get a council allotment have provided their own plots, thanks to the support of landowner Brian Kingham.
When Mr Kingham, owner of Aldbourne Chase Farm, heard the group was looking for a piece of land he offered them one third of a hectare in Marlborough Road to rent.
The land provides plots for 17 gardeners and there is a small waiting list, said Alison Edmonds, one of the gardeners who decided to look for her own allotment land and put out posters in July 2008 asking if anyone in the village was interested.
“We were delighted with the initial response which showed there were quite a few people who would like to have their own allotment,” said Mrs Edmonds.
Bad weather delayed the land being ploughed until March 2009 and then, said Mrs Edmonds, the hard work began digging out couch grass and other weeds from the land that had not been tilled for at least 30 years.
Mrs Edmonds said the group was lucky to win grants from the National Lottery and from the Wiltshire and Swindon Community Foundation to pay for fencing, hedging, paths and a communal shed.
With spring now imminent the gardeners are busy preparing the ground for planting. Mrs Edmonds, who is a parish councillor, said: “We are all in this as a group and we like to work together sharing any surpluses we grow and, at the start of the season, we share seeds.”
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