We’ve been on the waiting list for an allotment for approximately a year now.  Time is passing and we’re still no nearer to getting a little more land to grow more than is possible in our garden.  I’m itching to get a plot and get going.  I have little plans in my head of what will go where but it’s not looking like it’ll happen.  Two weeks ago I emailed all the parishes, both my own and the others nearby, explaining how long we’d been waiting and asking whether any allotments were yet available.  I contacted a total of seven clerks in seven parishes and I’ve received one reply saying “sorry, but no”.   My own parish hasn’t replied so I sent a second email yesterday asking how far we now were on the waiting list, and whether any new plots are likely to become available.  How long shall I hold my breath for?

There’s nothing.  Not anywhere.  And it’s so frustrating and I’m getting extremely fed up with it!  I’m willing to clear a patch of land myself and do all the preparation myself if I could just have it.  But no, there isn’t anywhere on the whole peninsula, in or around any of the villages including my own that can give me a little bit of space.  Yet all the time, all the while, are new developments going up.  New “affordable” (to whom?!) housing sprawling out of the villages, turning them into towns.  Chopping down the orchards, covering the fields and creating a mess of new housing wherever they can.  Soon, there will be no view from my window.  I won’t be able to see the crops or the animals as I go by.  There will always be room for luxury apartments or executive family homes but what about preserving the land we have?  Will there be a limit to how much of the countryside will be allowed to disappear?  What will we do when it’s finally all gone?

So back to the allotment.  What do I do?  Do I keep bothering the clerks until I get some real answers?  What are my chances of ever getting a plot?  And why won’t they make any new plots available despite there being a real demand for them?