Bath’s city centre allotments, a sign of a trusting, friendly community, looking after its health and helping to make the future sustainable.
As the allotments here in Balbriggan, on the Dublin – Meath border start to take shape, I and many locals are curious to see other allotments wherever we go. With the new edition of ‘Trevor’s Kitchen Garden’ now in British bookshops, a little promotional trip to Bath seemed like a good excuse to see a beautiful part of England and meet some local kitchen gardeners there.
Walking around Bath (in the rain!) this historic spa town’s architecture in any weather is impressive. What was even more impressive is the central location of the allotments. The equivalent location in Dublin would be like having allotments in Merrion Square or in Stephen’s Green. Within yards of park benches were all shapes and sizes of compost tumblers, cones and more handmade compost containers. Cabbages, chard, leeks and parsnips were ready for harvest. I imagined them as steaming ingredients in a hot-pot to warm the cockles beside a roaring fireplace in the nearby Marlborough Tavern.
If the place looked this good on a rainy Monday morning in January, imagine how stunning it would look when the runner beans are in flower, the sunflowers are reaching for the sky and the first outdoor early potatoes are being dug in June. I’ll be back … to see how ‘Trevor’s Kitchen Garden’ is selling there … of course!
Trevor is co-founder and was, until his appointment to Government, a board member of Sonairte, the Irish National Ecology Centre, near Julianstown, County Meath which is an Agricultural Training and Visitor centre with a 2.2 acre walled organic garden. He is also a member of Amnesty International, the Dublin Food Co-op, the Irish Organic Farmers’ and Growers’ Association, Organic Trust and a former member of Macra na Feirme. A former teacher and fluent Irish speaker, he relaxes by reading, walking and playing music. His favourite form of relaxation is tending to his prolific organic garden at home in Balbriggan, North County Dublin, an area known by many as Fingal.
Source: Trevor’s Kitchen Garden – Allotments Can Be a Tourist Attraction Even in Winter
