2023 Plot Holder of The Year

Winner of the coveted title of Plot Holder of The Year is Abdul. Here he is proudly displaying the trophy shield for this prestigious award.

Abdul

Our judge for this year is Peter who cultivates his garden in the New Town area of Luton. He has spent the past four years turning a tangled and overgrown back garden into a home for pollinator-friendly flowering plants and a refuge for locally scavenged materials.

Peter our Plot Holder of The Year judge for 2023 perching on a natural 'bar stool'.
Peter our Plot Holder of The Year judge for 2023 perching on a natural ‘bar stool’.

This year the main theme for the judging  is ‘leisure’. The official name of this site is Stockingstone Road Leisure Gardens. This reflects the changes that took place in the post-war period when the need to Dig For Victory had ended and lots of allotments were abandoned and sites fell into neglect. Around 500,000 plots were lost after the war. To try and halt the decline the government appointed an Allotment Czar, Professor Harry Thorpe of the University of Birmingham. He recommended a rebrand from ‘allotment’ to ‘leisure garden’ and a shift in emphasis to cultivating an allotment as a social and leisure activity rather than as a necessity to keep hunger at bay.

So the theme and remit for the judge was finding a well-cultivated plot where  ‘leisure’ is at a premium, or put another way,  ‘sitting around doing nothing’ or ‘relaxing whilst contemplating nature and your crops after a vigorous morning of digging and slug hunting’.

The winner, runners-up and special commendations.

Plot No.Plot holderPlace
20CAbdulFIRST
31DKarolinaSECOND
33GillTHIRD
18AIrfanSpecial commendation
16BMarinelSpecial commendation
31AHelenSpecial commendation
21AElisabethSpecial commendation

Judge’s comments

peter sitting in abdul's cafe 2023
peter sitting at cafe table 2023
Abdul's cafe hidden in the greenery
peter sitting in abdul's cafe

Plot 20C (Abdul) FIRST
Abdul has made an attractive little ‘cafe style’ space in front of his shed under a large fig tree.The table and chairs were rescued from a neighbour who was going to take them to the tip. This is in keeping with the allotment tradition of  using salvaged materials as much as possible. It’s a perfect set up for both solitary contemplation of nature and for heated group discussions about world politics and slug remedies.

peter walking through pergola
Peter testing the pic-nic table and bench

Plot 31D (Karolina) SECOND Karolina has a four seater picnic table, (also called a beer garden table). A path under a pergola invites you into the plot. An ideal spot for a lunch break after a morning of digging and weeding.

shed veranda with apples
peter sitting on shed veranda 2023

Plot 33 (Gill) THIRD Gill has a delightful shed mini veranda. You can also call it a porch or a stoep. The shed wall acts as a windbreak. It’s a perfect place to sit with a flask of tea and a bucket of peas to shell.

bench made with decking planks
bench on irfan's plot

Plot 18A (Irfan) SPECIAL COMMENDATION This bench has been given a new lease of life with a new seat and back made from decking planks. A sheltered spot to sit and admire a well-cared for plot.

bench made of pallets
peter sitting on bench made with pallets 2023

Plot 16B (Marinel) SPECIAL COMMENDATION A sturdy bench fashioned from pallets. Great use of salvaged materials.

Plot 31A (Helen) SPECIAL COMMENDATION A mystery bench lurking under a cover. A cozy and sheltered spot to sit and admire the plants.

bench on plot 21a
cat on bench plot 21a

Plot 21A (Elisabeth) SPECIAL COMMENDATION Peter could not be persuaded to sit on this rustic bench. He judged it to be on the verge of disintegration. The cat disagrees. The bench was salvaged many years ago from the undergrowth of an overgrown plot on the Stockingstone site.