Topic: The "Save Fortis Green Allotments" Project

[cornykev]

I think the interest in Dutch allotments goes a bit deeper than allotments, In MY opinion the Dutch and the British are much alike, both love their fooball and gardening alike, even the cricket is coming along in Holland, when England never qualified for the European's Holland is the team I look for, the weather is also similiar I believe, on the occasions I've been to Holland it has rained all day.
 ;D ;D ;D

[Sjoerd]

I agree with you, Cornykev--I see many similarities between the British and the Dutch. Gardening,  football and the weather are just three.
I had to chuckle when I read of your wet visits over here. That is so typical.
I recall once my bride and I went over to GB for a six week drive-about. I especially wanted to do some hiking up in Scotland...and it was that year the dryest in donkeys years....perfect. I had read that there were even streams that had dried up (it was sometime in the '70s or '80s I believe).
No need for wellies, right. It was a bit overcast when we got off the ferry and the first week was oké...but no sooner had we crossed the border into Scotland than it began raining and practically did not let up until we left the country again.
Subsequent visits have been mixed, but always a bit of moisture...somehow it wouldn't feel right without it.

[1066]

Hi, yes this thread has gone wonderfully off topic  ;D
Sjoerd, are your allotments the type where people are allowed to stay overnight / at weekends? I've heard of these existing in the Netherlands, so that those sheds are effectively a small room where you can sleep / eat etc ? I don't know of any that exist (officially) in the UK.

And yes I have travelled and seen the allotments alongside the trainlines and canals, they always look so smart, some of ours can look a little ramshackle (but I kind of like that too!)

One difference between the UK and Netherlands = Bitterballen  ;D  ;D  ;D Always have to have some when I visit!! and of course washed down with a beer or 2  ;)

[Sjoerd]

1066--No, we are not allowed to stay overnight on our allotments. Indeed there are a few that do allow that. I don't know for sure, but I believe it has to do with zoning and /or the technical (legal) definition of what our allotment club and complex is.
I do not know if this is a club rule or something dictated by the council --it was like that when I came and is still in effect.

I don't mind allotments looking ramshackle to a degree. I mean in my mind an allotment is "typical" when it is put together from odd pieces of this and that.  Having said that, there are rules on size, colour and orientation of any sheds or small houses...even greenhouses that one may want to place on the plot. I first thought that this was just our club being awkward, but discovered that they simply included council rules into the bylaws.
There are more examples, such as people having to keep the canals that border their plots clean so that the water is free-flowing.

Ahhhh--bitterballen! I get the urge to go into town and get some right now, having read your posting. We have lots of little things to eat like that here, as you must know.  I like getting little snacks when I am shopping or out and about.