Allotment Aesthetics - Sheds

Well, what’s yours like? The shed is something that really gives away the personality, and purposes, of an allotment holder. There are severely practical sheds, weirdly personal sheds, artistic sheds, sheds that you suspect are actually more comfortable (and more lived in!) than the allotment holder’s home, and collapsing sheds.

My own shed is nothing special, mainly because I spend most of my time haunting other people’s sheds, poking in their corners and cupboards and making a nuisance of myself under the claim that ‘I’m going to write about this!’

Some sheds are well insulated, so that even through the winter, the resident can be cosy inside – does that mean they have an unhappy home life or are just sensibly comfort loving? Lots of sheds have solar panels now and most sheds have a kettle and some mugs, but one that I know of contains a bread maker. The allotment holder sets his bread off overnight and wanders down to the allotment the next morning to treat himself to a slice of still-warm bread and butter for breakfast – and yes, we do all hang around his door waiting to see if we’re going to be the lucky ones who get to share the loaf! I’ve been to a shed that contains a potter’s wheel and another that held a loom (and to be honest, not much else, a loom takes up a lot of room!) and I can think of at least a dozen sheds that have bunches of herbs hanging from the ceiling so that each time you enter them the fragrances of the garden overwhelm you.

Some of my recent favourites include a corrugated iron shed at Hurstpierpoint allotments that reminded me of the tool sheds that one finds everywhere in Trinidad, a ‘boat’ shed, that was just a fibreglass boat turned on end with a door fitted, and Louise’s shed, which has been painted a glorious pea green and contains, as well as tools and other allotment stuff, bits of her artwork and – always – a lovely bunch of flowers.

But this one, you’ve got to admit, beats them all hollow – half Tardis, half 1960s style icon, there is something ineffably cool and groovy about the red telephone box, and using it to store your rakes, hoes and spades is rather cool and groovy too.

Labels: allotment-secrets, allotment-shed, garden-shed, telephone-box