We acquired our plot at the Jubilee Allotments near Knaresborough in 2011 when the site was just a ploughed field. Our allotment has since come on leaps and bounds and now has sheds, a greenhouse, two ponds, a fruit garden, raised beds and a tree nursery.

We enjoy a variety of activities, including gardening, cooking, bushcraft skills, scarecrow-making and gnome painting! We learn practical horticultural skills, as well as all about food growing and healthy eating. The produce we grow is used to make lots of delicious things which we make and cook down the allotment such as, fruit jams, courgette chutney, onion soup, courgette fritters, onion bahjis, sag aloo, salads and vegetable hotpots, kebabs and stir fries, as well as baked potatoes and barbequed sweetcorn.

Cooking a vegetable stir fry down the allotment!

Watch our video about what the allotment means to us

We like to look after the wildlife on our allotment too. We have put up bird and bat boxes, built two wildlife ponds and a bog garden, made toad homes, a minibeast hotel and a hedgehog house, and have planted many insect friendly plants.

In 2018 we were delighted to receive the Gold Award in the Wildlife Friendly Garden Awards. Harrogate District Biodiversity Action Group’s award scheme recognises the good work of individuals, groups and schools to help local wildlife by creating havens for bird and insect populations to flourish.