HBC: Grow your own on a Hyndburn allotment

Fancy growing your own?

Growing your own fruit and veg is really popular these days, both for healthy eating and a healthy lifestyle and with a wide range vacant of allotment plots at the Council’s Accrington and Baxenden allotment sites up for grabs, even more green fingered Hyndburn folk can now have the chance to grow their own fruit and vegetables.

Allotment plots available include small, easy manageable raised beds to the larger allotment plots, where some good healthy digging will be needed, but well worth the reward of eating your own veggies and fruit.

Cllr Ken Moss, Cabinet Member for Allotments, said “The Councils allotments are a fantastic place for people to get outside and enjoy a healthy activity.  Learning about how things grow and eating your own food is a very rewarding experience.  Having an allotment gets you away from the rush of life, for some quite time and relaxation.  Some of the sites are really out of the way with amazing views.  It amazes me what can be achieved by some people, growing so much with so little land.  I look forward to visiting the allotments this year with representatives from the Hyndburn Federation of Allotments to see how the Council is doing and how we can improve the allotments still further”.

Some areas in Hyndburn including Oswaldtwistle, Rishton, Great Harwood and Clayton le Moors still have very long allotment waiting lists and the Council will be working in partnership with the Hyndburn Federation of Allotments during the year to ensure that the allotments in these and other areas are being properly used.  The Council wrote to over 100 allotment tenants last year, of which just fewer than 50 are now used by new allotment tenants.

Cath Holmes, Chair of the Hyndburn Federation of Allotments said “the Council has long waiting lists for some sites, so it is unfair on those people waiting, when some allotment holders are not properly using their plot.  Some have been under used year on year.  Allotments are a great way of meeting new people, getting out and about, exercising.  It’s well documented that growing and allotmenteering is beneficial to mental health and wellbeing. New tenancies should be encouraged.”

Call Ian Marfleet, Allotments Manager at Hyndburn on 01254 388111 for further information or on the Councils Allotments website.