A hidden valley between Cranbrook Road and Birchall Road in Bishopston is lined with over 100 allotment plots where people work hard to grow fresh fruit, flowers and vegetables.
Unlike many other allotments however, the Birchall Road field is not fenced off from the general public, allowing people to walk along the access track that runs between the plots. Jan Davies, the field representative for Birchall Road on the Horfield and District Allotment committee, says this is something they feel very positive about.
“We really enjoy the fact that people come through. Before Covid many people didn’t know it was there but during the pandemic people found it to be a place to enjoy being outdoors in a little bit of nature. We like the way people often chat and ask questions about what we are doing because they’re interested.”
Sadly, however, not everyone is so respectful and plot-holders are increasingly telling of problems from two main kinds of unwanted behaviour.
“We’ve had several incidents of young people using the allotments as a recreational space and leaving litter as well as causing damage,” Jan reports.
“There’s occasionally theft of things like chairs, and sheds have been broken into.”
This behaviour is obviously annoying and also can be intimidating for people to experience. As a result the association is now in discussion with local secondary schools and police to try and identify the culprits.
The other main issue stems from dog walkers.
“We have put signs up asking them to keep the dogs on the lead and not let them wander onto the allotments. We know, however, that some people do let them stray, and as a result, we are finding dog poo on the plots.”
Jan says. “That is not very pleasant or healthy – we are growing food to eat, after all. We will be putting more signs up reminding people to keep dogs on a lead and off the allotments but we would like it if responsible dog walkers could help us by challenging anyone they see letting their dog run free or people doing anything else untoward – like vandalism.”
It is important to understand that this is what is known as a permissive path and not a public right of way.
“As a permissive path it is open as long as the landowner agrees that it’s all right to be used that way.”
Jan explains. “We are generally happy about that and we really don’t want to close it off to the public or to fence ourselves in like other allotments. But we do feel we need to do something about the fact that some people are not respecting the boundaries to the path.
“Everybody works hard to keep their allotments healthy and productive and we’re simply asking that people appreciate the privilege of sharing the space that we care for.”