The Allotment: Its Landscape and Culture by David Crouch, Colin Ward

Allotment gardens are taken for granted as part of the everyday scene on the fringe of every city, town and village. This unique and fascinating book explores the culture and landscape of the allotment and the part it has played in Britain for 150 years. The old mental image of the cloth-capped plot-holder, sitting in his shed on a Sunday morning and pedalling home with a bunch of carrots over his handlebars is no longer valid. More and more plot-holders are the young and trendy or women, growing their own organic produce. However, the allotment is under threat and many long-held sites have been lost. A new introduction describes these changes.

'One of the strengths of the book is the use made of oral history, as well as the authors’ own acute observations and conversations with allotment holders. The special element of reciprocity which every gardener knows, the gift of spare seed, the sharing of an extra large crop, the mutual support of neighbours, is at its peak on the allotment.' – Financial Times

The standard work on allotment history and culture, rich in anecdote and detail on one of the last vestiges of our once everyday contact with the land. Now in its 2nd edition.

'...to all of you I recommend that classic The Allotment' - Observer

'...a wise and stimulating book' - Sunday Telegraph

'...explores a neglected institution of great cultural, moral and political significance' - The Times

Reviews of The Allotment: Its Landscape and Culture

	23 April 2006
Reviewed by customer: Chris Erskine
This book opens your eyes to a different world. Hidden in the normal everyday exist spaces of hope and alternative possibilities. Crouch and Ward show that one such place is the allotment. The authors pursue a very subversive agenda thorugh a much forgotten aspect of out built environment. Chris Erskine

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