[Please print out a copy for use as you walk around our site]
Welcome to the largest self-managed allotment site in Dartford. Your tour begins in the car park at the Devonshire Avenue entrance to the site. The large huts here are used by the West Dartford Allotment and Garden Society (WDAGS) to distribute garden supplies to its members, who include many of the 120 plotholders on the Dartford Road site. WDAGS membership costs £1 per year, and the hut is currently open on Saturdays from 2pm to 3:30pm. WDAGS was founded in the 1940s; Dartford Road Allotments Association (DRAA) was founded much later, in 1991, specifically to obtain and operate a lease for the allotment site which you are about to explore, which has been here for around a century, and which has an area of over 6.5 acres. Before your tour begins you need to orient yourself. The entrance to the site is to the east, the WDAGS huts are on the south side of the car park, and the brick wall besides the bungalow is to your north. At the entrance to the site you will see a QED sign that is mount ed on a notice board that has been constructed from recycled pallet material. Now let's begin the tour!
Proceed south down the wide track between the WDAGS huts and the rear of properties in Somerset Road. There are grape vines along the fence to your right. At the end of the first plot the track narrows slightly. From here on you will be on land reclaimed from dereliction since 1991 by the DRAA. The track becomes more uneven, and there is a new wire and concrete fence on your left, installed by the DRAA in part to control rubbish dumping (the track here overlays up to three feet of composted house and garden debris). Near where the track swings west, behind Bath Road, you will find a large black object on the left - not a mine, but a buoy from the Thames brought here many years ago for use as a water tank. Looking out across the site you can see many sheds on individual plots, nearly all of which have been constructed by new plotholders since 1991 from recycled materials. Opposite the black buoy there is a shed covered in honeysuckle and clemmatis, and as you walk round the corner, you'll s ee a converted rocking chair on the veranda. The lawn (!) and pond were new in the autumn. Take a closer look and you will see an array of tadpoles. These tadpoles will develop into frogs which will devour any slugs that happen to be around.
Proceed west to the Gloucester Road entrance to the site, noting along the way the newly constructed wooden fence, made from recycled wood and the use of carpet to control weeds. You should soon arrive at some low bushes of rosemary, lavender and sage on one of our organic plots, at which point we leave the area reclaimed by DRAA. Next to the Gloucester Road entrance is the first of three notice boards, on which minutes of committee meetings are posted on the same day they are held. In front of this is a triangle of grass, newly sown this year, connecting the track behind Bath Road to a new track heading north, also constructed by DRAA. There is a water tank by the fence at the end of Gloucester Road, with a standpipe in a wooden box adjacent. There are twelve water points on site now (compared with four inherited in 1992), and nine have automatic dip-tanks rather than standpipes. All water is metered, and costs the Association around £800 per annum. Pause for a while here and take a look at the plots round about, some of which are very well cultivated, though others definitely need an autumn dig. Now head north up the wide track. The second and third plots on the left are reclaimed land again - this time following bomb damage when a land mine exploded here during WW2. The damson trees between the second and third plots are the last remaining sign of the former dereliction. In the trees you will see a bird box which has been constructed from old pallet wood. The shed on the second plot on the left has been landscaped with delphiniums and irises. Behind the damson trees you can see one of the dip-tanks - go take a closer look. Then head north again up the wide track to the end of the third plot, where the track swings diagonally to the north-east. The plot on the left as you take the diagonal (in need of digging again!) is rented by the probation service, and next summer will produce vegetables for the meals service they provide for the elderly in East Dartford. Young offenders have also been used on a number of reclamation projects on site. To the right you can see another dip-tank (across another grassy triangle): go take a look just over the wooden fence opposite, where you will find another of the small ponds on site, which are there to encourage frogs. The path due east from here leads to the Association's own storage shed, a garage building donated by a former plotholder which has recently been completed.
Return to the diagonal section of the wide track, and proceed past the notice board to the wall behind the bungalow. So far every track you have been walking on since you left the back of Somerset Road has been reclaimed or created by the Association. Now you join the original main path between Devonshire Avenue and Dartford Road. Walk north, with the wall to your right and a well-cultivated plot on the left with flowering perennials at its northern end. Proceed to the end of this plot, opposite the shed covered in ivy and brambles (a sensible way of protecting a shed from vandalism and wind damage), then cut due west, in amongst the plots, first past this shed, then a quick right-left and on to a dip-tank that has no tap. Time to pause again. The plot to the south-west next to the fence (with lots of flower pots on it) is another of our organic plots. By your feet you will find a fine specimen of mint. See an example of a lean-to shed construction!!! Now take the narrow path north. Take a closer look at the row of blue barrels on the right. You'll see that someone's trying to combat carrot root fly and trying to grow long carrots. There are fine crops to be seen on the right between here and the green Anderson Shelter two plots to the north. Note the blue barrels on the right being used to make compost, compost bins and sheds made from recycled pallets (the Association has supplied over 1,000 free of charge to plotholders for uses such as this - and to replace metal and other materials which have gradually been cleared from the site), roses being budded, and on the left, the last traces of flowers which were grown last summer for drying and subsequent display.
When you get to the dip-tank behind the Anderson Shelter, turn right (mind out - this can be a damp spot) and head back to the main path. On the way you will pass two of several plots on the site with an Italian theme: the first plot on the left has globe artichokes and fennel, and the third on the right (with another Anderson Shelter on it) has more globe artichokes, and Italian asparagus (much thinner than other varieties). Plotholders on the Dartford Road site bring with them the horticultural traditions of many different countries, including India, Mauritius, Jamaica, Antigua, South Africa, Spain, Italy and the Republic of Ireland.
Walk north along the main track again for one plot-length, until the site opens out on both sides of the track. As you continue, you will see some Indian vegetables being cultivated on the left, Italian on the right. Another plot-length and you come to a carpeted embayment flanked on two sides for pallets: this has been installed to allow for manure deliveries in the winter months and deliveries of pallets. Another thing confined to winter months is bonfires: New rules on bonfires were introduced in 1992 to help maintain the quality of the environment for ourselves and residents of adjacent properties.
Pause for a while at the embayment, and take a look at some of the plots around here: there are good examples nearby of water conservation using pipes to take water directly to plant roots, and stands of dahlias and chrysanthemums off to the west. When you are ready, strike east from the embayment at right angles to the main track. The second plot on your left has a fine set of vines, with feverfew and chrysanthemums bordering the path itself, while that on the right is being reclaimed with carpets (some of the carpets on site have been used on different plots every year since 1992, and are still usable). Four plots in you come to another dip-tank. Pause to look at the plots nearby: the plot in the south-east corner looked particularly attractive from here last summer.
Now take the well-kept path to the north, towards the fruit cage. After half a plot-length you will see a strawberry bed on the right: from here to the fruit cage the ground was cultivated last summer by adults with learning difficulties from NW Kent College, one of several contributions being made by local allotment sites to the activities of the QED Health Group. To the left, beyond the fruit cage, is one of the more individualistic sheds, built last year by the QED Youth Action group. Look one plot over and you may spy a bridge (!) over another pond. Continue north two plot-lengths (the second plot you pass on the left is mine: forgive the mess!) to the point where there are two sheds on the left: take the narrow past west between the first shed and a row of raspberries. The compost bins on the right are home to a colony of sloe worms - a protected species welcome on this site as a devourer of slugs. Keep going west. The second plot you cross has a large cold frame with light diffusers on top: this was used for cucumbers last summer. The shed to your right looks to exceed the maximum permitted shed size, 5' x 7' at the base (shame on me, for I erected it), but look again: the front end has been recessed to meet the specification. There is a nice grapevine on your left, and the largest asparagus bed on the site beyond that. Continue west, over another plot with globe artichokes. One more plot, past a New Zealand compost bin on the right (with a slatted front), and you are back to the main track. Keep going west. The second plot in on the left is flanked by lemon balm (smell the leaves), while the third on the right features a Caribbean mixture of flowers and vegetables. The shed on the third plot to the left is your destination: stop here and demand tea if anyone is around! While you are drinking it, take the opportunity to wander around: there is a very large compost bin nearby, used to compost the weeds (including cooch grass) from the nine derelict plots which used to occupy this corner of the site before the Association had it plowed up in 1992, a sheltered area beneath buddleia and a morello cherry with access for a wheel chair, and to the left of the freshly painted brown shed beside the fence, under the trees, yet another new pond - with tadpoles.
Dartford Road Allotments are never closed. Come back to see us at your leisure - and why not in summer, when the site is at its best. Access is via Gloucester Road, Devonshire Avenue, and from Dartford Road via the concrete road immediately to the west of the petrol station.
[Richard Wiltshire]
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