Shed aesthetics – the name’s the thing

Have you named your allotment shed? This is one of those issues that seems to divide allotment owners pretty evenly in two, with half thinking that not naming a shed would be like not naming a dog, and the other half thinking that such behaviour is twee and rather suspect.

It’s odd, one of those cultural behaviours that is entirely British and eccentric. I can’t imagine people in France ever stopping to consider if they should give their shed a moniker, can you? I haven’t ever named a shed, but if I did, this would be the name I’d choose. And it’s a bit like the issue of plot numbers; another cultural practice that varies from place to place and yet has quite clear conventions.

A lot of the plots on my allotment site have number-plate numbers. That is, they’ve gone down to the local number-plate maker and had their plot number stuck to a yellow car number-plate in black numerals. Just a mile away, all the plot numbers are painted on bits of wood and over in the next county, plot numbers are displayed vertically on the gate-post – they might be plastic numbers nailed on, or painted numbers, but they are on the post, not put up as a separate sign.

In Dorset I know of an allotment site where most of the numbers are done in pokerwork on slices of tree trunk – presumably there’s a resident poker-worker and tree-feller who does great business, and in Yorkshire there’s at least one local council that provides plastic laminated plot numbers (for a fee, presumably).

All fascinating stuff – perhaps I should write a thesis …

Labels: allotment-appearance, allotment-shed