This is what our new allotments looked like at the beginning of April 2011.

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And this is what they look like today.

In the distance are 2 steel containers for storing tools etc. Our chairman has also put up a gate, and buried a water pipe in a trench, ready for when it will be connected to the mains. In the meantime, we have a number of water butts on site - essential since we have had no rain since the allotments were started at the beginning of April. Tatsfield had allotments (I am told) until 1961, when they were abandoned due to lack of interest. Not so today - there are 60 plots, 40 of them 10 metres by 10 metres, 4 triangular plots at the edge of the site of about 150 square metres, and the remainder 4.5 x 4.5 metres, ie a quarter plot. Even the largest plots are not as big as a traditional allotment, which was about 250 square metres, but they are all manageable. Also on site will be (probably from October) Tatsfield's very own community composting site, where any member of the village can bring compostable waste, and receive for a small donation a bag of black gold. This has been in operation elsewhere in the village for a number of years. All of the plots have been allocated to Tatsfield residents; there is a waiting list of non-Tatsfield residents but there are no more plots available.