Secret Garden update

Secret Garden – thanks to Jane and Damien

The main structure of the Secret Garden has now been completed!  This is mainly down to the hard work and determination of our members Jane and Damien.  They have given up many of their weekends this year to design and build our new accessible Secret Garden as well as oversee the work of their friends and family (thank you Annette, Sophie and Alice) as well our plotholders who have provided some additional help on volunteer days and our site manager Paul. You can read more about the history of the garden here and here.

Completing the door arbour

Magical Secret Garden

The garden will mature over the coming months and years as the climbers grow to enclose the space and make it more magical. At the moment I particularly enjoy the beautiful shadows that are cast in the garden by the willow tunnel, coppiced hazel fences and climbers outside the door arbour.  I’ve even enjoyed sitting and passing the time of day with fellow plotholders.

Shadows cast by the willow fence
Shadows cast by new grapevine

Volunteers needed

We will need help maintaining the garden over the years to come.  As with all work done on site, it is our plotholders and members who make Dorset Road Allotments such a safe, attractive and enjoyable allotment site.  Help that will be needed include:

  • watering the pot plants
  • weeding flower beds
  • cutting the grass.

We will also need more plants to fill out the large flower border.  If you are splitting perenniels, sowing annuals or have some spare shrubs please consider donating some plants to the garden.

If you can spare some time to help in the garden or want to donate some plants please speak to a committee member.

Tesco Bags of Help

And finally, we wouldn’t have been able to build our wonderful Secret Garden if it wasn’t for the help of our local community who voted for us in the Tesco Bags of Help scheme.  Thank you to everybody who voted.  I hope you have already visited the garden on our Open Day.  We will also be having a launch party on Sunday 27th August.  We are also open every Sunday between 10am-1pm for the local community to visit.

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Pooh Corner is famous!

Pooh Corner – the story of a toilet block

One of the things that makes Dorset Road Allotments special is Pooh Corner. For those in the know, that’s the name of our toilet block.  We were one of the first allotment sites to have a proper flushing toilet and we certainly appreciate it! And it looks like we are not the only one.  Our Secretary Donna came across this fascinating blog which features Pooh Corner (scroll down to the ‘not pubs’ section).

 

toilet block

We’ve been lucky enough to have our ‘proper toilet’ since the 1990s. Some of you may remember the newsletter article I wrote back in 2011.  I had been talking to Phil (who I’m sure many of you will remember) about what the allotment site used to be like and we got talking about toilets.  I was curious to know what people did before ‘Pooh Corner’ was built, so Phil told me about the little-used chemical toilet, the difficulties getting permission from the council for ‘proper’ toilets and the hard work digging the drainage and plumbing them in. But the real gem was the original diagrams he still had in his note book.

Diagram for pooh corner

Diagram for pooh corner

Phil (pictured below with his mobility buggy) played a major part in Dorset Road Allotments over the years, including holding elected roles on the committee.  We have him (and the other committee members) to thank for our wonderful facilities including the clubhouse and the toilets. Unfortunately Phil is no longer with us, but his legacy lives on. Thank you Phil!

Phil

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Thank you for an amazing Open Day!

Thank you for an amazing Open Day!

On Sunday 14 May we held our Annual Open Day – and what an amazing day it was.  The sun shone, music was played and a lot of tea was drunk!

We would like to thank everybody who made it such an wonderful event, including the North Wood Morris Men, Old Palace Clog, Churchfields Choir, 19th Bromley Scouts, Healthwatch Bromley, Bromley Beekeepers, Woodcraft Folk, and all the other stall holders and members who gave their time to bake cakes, serve tea, cook burgers and hotdogs, grow and sell plants, blow up balloons, put out tables and chairs, put up signs, tidy up the site, build gardens and just generally help to make our Open Day a success.

In particular we would like to thank all the members of the local community who visited our Open Day – you are what makes the day so special!

Visit Dorset Road Allotments

We are open for members of the public to visit on Sunday mornings between 10am – 1pm and at other times on request.  Alternatively visit our next open day – the dates and times will be posted on the website.