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Allotment Gardening

Allotment gardening has had a real resurgence in popularity in the last ten years or so and gone is the flat cap and whippet image of the past. Bollington has a real need for allotment plots with so many properties having little or no garden in which to cultivate vegetables.

Bollington Town Council manages two allotment sites in Bollington, Heath Road Allotments and Harrop Road Allotments.

Vegetables

If you would like to know more about any of the Bollington Town Council Allotments or would like to be added to the waiting list please contact us. Please note that due to the excessive demand we are only taking applications from those on the Bollington Electoral Register. View our allotment policy.

Bollington Allotment Sites

Heath Road Allotments

Heath Road Allotments are situated behind the ATAX field off Ovenhouse Lane, near to Bollington Leisure Centre. They were established in 1999 when the Town Council took out a lease on a small piece of land from Macclesfield Borough Council, Originally there were 10 plots on the site but susequently as demand has risen many of these have been divided and rented out as half plots.This allotment area has benefited from the installation of a water supply in 2005. This was put in by United Utilities as part of their package of thanks for the town’s having to put up with their sewer excavations throughout that year.

Plot at Heath Road

Harrop Road Allotments

Harrop Road Allotments were created in 2012 in response to the growing waiting list for allotments in the area. Bollington Town Council had for some years been trying to identify extra land which could be used for this and finally managed to agree a lease with Cheshire East Council for a previously cultivated but largely neglected site off Harrop Road. The legal niceties took rather longer than anticipated and by the time the Town Council acquired the land it was in a very poor state. A working party made up from prospective tenants knocked the site into shape and formed a thriving tenants association.

Plot at Harrop Road

Other Allotment Sites

Cheshire East Council Allotments

Cheshire East Council also manage several allotment sites in the area. Although these also have waiting lists you may wish to enquire about adding your name to their list if you are prepared to travel.  Please note these waiting lists are completely independent from the lists for the Bollington sites. Details can be found  on the Cheshire East Council Allotments page.

Community Edible Planting Scheme

This is a project from Transition Bollington: “Bollington residents driving *local* grassroots community projects that promote sustainability, resilience and earth happiness in our community & local economy.”

Their Edibles and Planting project consists of:

  • “3000 Trees” Mission, including…
  • Schools Orchards Project – trees/edibles for all local primary schools
  • Plant A Tree For The Planet
  • Community Gardens: edibles planting at Town Hall, Civic Hall & Library supported by Bollington Town Council, along with planting at various other sites – a major cornerstone of community food resilience, residents uniting to self-source fresh fruit vegetables & herbs

If you would like to get involved in any of the community planting schemes or any of the group activities please visit the Transition Bollington website or the Transition Bollington Facebook page for more information.

Garden Sharing or Adoption Scheme

While most people reading this page may consider having a large garden or plot of land would be a real asset there are some people to whom taking care of their patch may be a challenge. One solution to this problem would be to reduce the area the owner has to maintain themselves by offering part or all of their plot for cultivation by others. This is becoming increasingly popular and there are already schemes countrywide to help connect people who may be able to offer or utilise surplus land.

A local Garden Share Scheme run by Food 4 Macc has already successfully linked up many landowners and gardeners.

View the Gardenshare scheme and see what land is currently on offer.  A sample agreement is available to download

you know of an area of land which could be used to create extra allotment space or a community garden, or have or know of someone who has a garden and would be willing to allow others to adopt a patch for cultivation then please contact us.