Plotting

As well as welcoming a new baby to our family, in recent weeks we have also been blessed with our first Edinburgh allotment.

We had an allotment in Bristol, which I acquired only a few weeks after moving to the city. Getting an allotment in Edinburgh has been a completely different story. No quick chat with a committee member and turning up to see which plots were on offer. Oh no.

In Edinburgh there is a waiting list; a really LONG list. Shortly after we moved here, we added our names to the list.

8 years later we have finally got a plot. Yes, eight years. A lot has happened in that time: we got married, moved house, moved jobs, had 3 children, put in a new bathroom, put in a new kitchen, had significant birthdays and all the time we were waiting for an allotment....

It's lovely - only a couple of minutes walk from our house, and well loved by its previous holder. So, before we started work there was rhubarb and currants and raspberries and mint and other herbs.

Today we spent a couple of sunny hours at our plot, sewing seeds with the children and doing a bit of watering and tidying up. Not a bad way to spend a sunny Sunday afternoon.

When we got home, a bit of water play in the garden helped take care of the worst of the mud. I hope our little beans look back fondly on these afternoons - carefree play (no roads, no cars) in the sunshine, getting really really dirty.