Community Allotment & Easy Access Site
The Community Allotment Plot is free to join and is a place to grow produce collaboratively. We discuss what we want to plant, share seeds, water, weed and harvest together. Sometimes we meet as a group and sometimes people want to go down at a quiet time and work on their own - whatever works for you is fine with us.
We welcome new members to the team and will introduce you to everyone and help you get started. We don't have many rules, be nice to each other, don't undo anyone else's hard work and label anything that you plant!
If we have excess produce we donate it to local foodbanks and once the community fridge at Front Community Hub on Sixways opens, we will take excess fruit and vegetables there.
We would really love to welcome you to the group so either get in touch via email (ckcommunityallotment@gmail.com) or keep an eye on our social media and come to one of our digging and weeding sessions or one of our social get togethers to see if it's for you.
You can find the Community Allotment Plot on Facebook here: Charlton Kings Community Allotment Plot | Facebook and on Instagram here: CK Community Allotment
The Community Allotment started in July 2020 after the Friends of Charlton Kings asked the Parish Council for a small plot on the Sappercombe Allotment.
With the help of a brilliant group of local volunteers the area was strimmed, dug over, weeded and transformed into a working plot with 4 beds and 2 raised beds next to the fence line as well as a refurbished shed, a donated greenhouse and two compost bays built from donated pallet wood.
It was amazing to see the plot take shape so quickly with community support.
Since then our site has grown to encompass the Easy Access Site which was developed by the Parish Council and has hard paving and 3 raised beds to make it accessible for people with different levels of mobility.
We have also developed a wild flower mound to encourage the local wildlife, and installed a small pond to encourage frogs which will help to keep our vegetables free from pests that might otherwise want to eat our vegetables!
We welcome visits from local schools and community groups and "Josie's Kitchen", a local cookery group for children, regularly comes to the allotment to pick produce and learn about where their food comes from.
The community allotment team is very friendly and meets socially at least once a month. In the cooler weather we tend to meet indoors but in the summer we have been known to take cake and biscuits to the allotment too!
We are in the process of creating the Jubilee Orchard which will have apple, pear and plum trees. Once the area beneath the trees has been dug over and seeded with grass it will be the perfect spot for a picnic stop when the allotment team want to take a break from the weeding and digging.
