Cowling - A picturesque parish of Craven District Council, set amid breathtaking Pennine countryside.
Welcome to the Cowling Allotment Group blog. The Cowling Allotment Group are keen to work with their parish councilors to maintain the provision of well kept allotments in this steadily expanding Yorkshire village. Currently the village has a small number of allotments though demand outweighs supply as more and more residents wish to embrace growing their own.
From 1970 to the year 2000, allotment gardening was in decline in the UK and demand fell by around 45% during this time. No doubt helped along by the "Good Life", the rise of the supermarket and clean bags of uniform veggies! This must have caused allotments to slip to the lower end of the list of priorities for busy local councilors across Britain during that period as demand dropped. Unfortunately, we now find that where as in 1970 1 person in 100 was waiting, today that figure is 57 in 100! So now we find that the requirement for allotments has outstripped provision as Brits embrace "austerity" in the form of higher taxes, creeping inflation, rising unemployment and soaring food prices. The great British allotment once again has the opportunity to live up to its illustrious heritage - sustaining the taxpayer through difficult times.
But the produce is not the only benefit of growing your own. As the nearby town of Todmorden has proved through their "Incredible Edible" initiative, growing vegetables can be a positive personal motivator too. Community spirit rises as people come together with neighbours sharing produce and ideas; no doubt the local economy receives a boost too as people travel to the town to chat to gardeners gleaning insight and experience. For so long we have complained in this country that community spirit is in decline, that we are becoming less and less healthy and yet here we have - at least in part - an answer.
Cowling Allotment Group hope to build on the long established allotment scene in the village and wish to further develop community spirit with the aid of our parish councilors. We hope this will be a success and another positive development for the village we call home.
We look forward to building closer ties with local gardeners and can be contacted at the address below. Alternatively show your support by getting a free Gmail account and become a friend of this group blog by joining us via the friend list on the right.
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