UK: ‘My allotment is my therapy’ – Nottingham gardeners describe how green space is their escape
Jack O’Connor meets the gardeners who turned to their allotments for sanctuary during the pandemic.
ByJack O’Connor
Nottinghamshire Live
July 12, 2021
Excerpt:
Nottingham’s gardeners have been growing food at St Ann’s Allotments for nearly two centuries.
The 75-acre Grade II listed site offers the community nearly 700 gardens nestled in the rolling site just under a mile from the city centre.
Quite a lot has happened since it opened in 1830.
But nothing quite like the coronavirus pandemic which has seen millions of people locked down in their homes for months on end.
And it is during these toughest of times where the value of having a green space to call your own has never been greater or more appreciated.
Tending an allotment was one of the few legal reasons for leaving your house during full national lockdown.
Rob Wood is part of the management committee for St Ann’s Allotments, his plot has been crucial to his wellbeing during the pandemic.
“During the past 15 months or so, it’s been a great place to come to escape, some people, they’d go crazy if they couldn’t,” he says.
“It’s been enormously important, being able to focus on something where you see an end result, to see that natural growth, it’s harmony for people.”
