Away from the bustling streets of historic York, CHLOÉ FARAND explores the city’s urban gardens where a dynamic community thrives keen to grow their own food.

JUST a couple of miles to the south east of the city centre, the Low Moor allotment stretches out over 200 plots of earthy land where timid shoots of beans, salad and courgettes have started to grow.

Small hedges and wooden fences separate the individual gardens from each other and a few sheds can be seen between the fruit trees in blossom.

This is one of York’s 39 allotment gardens, one of 16 managed by the city council. The other 23 are self-managed by committees of volunteers.

In the past ten years, there has been a renewal of popularity in garden allotments across the UK, boosted by the increasing number of cookery and gardening TV programmes.

The trend is particularly manifest in the city of York, which has a population of just over 153,000 according to the 2011 census, and provides an allotment garden for every 17,000 inhabitants.

Kerry Bardwell, 48, and her partner have been allotment holders for nearly ten years and they have put together their two full plots in order to create a 600 square yard garden where they spend most of their spare time growing food and inviting friends for a cup of tea.

“You name it, we plant it! Last summer our house turned into a tomato-processing factory and I think we harvested about 150 kilogrammes of tomatoes. It was a hell of a lot but we aimed to store enough for the whole winter,” said Ms Bardwell.

She recalls the day she first tasted homegrown tomatoes, and since then she can not bring herself to buy any more supermarket vegetables.

For Ms Bardwell, the allotment is part of her lifestyle but everyone finds a different enjoyment in having an urban garden.

The couple also runs the small on-site shop, which sells everything from seeds to pots and earth bags and which turns into a social hub at the weekend, when most allotments holders are out working on their plot.

“In the early summer days, the smell of barbecue is everywhere,” said Ms Bardwell. “There is no one way to do it and some people just want to do half a dozen lettuces and are happy.

“It’s a green space people are after and plot holders here can be anyone from doctors to engineers, families with kids to students.

“They are also people who don’t own their house or who still live with their parents and want to be responsible for a piece of land, sometimes they know nothing about growing fruit and veg.”

In York, the increasing appetite for allotments is striking. While in 2003 there were 633 tenants on city-managed allotment plots, in January 2015 this figure had doubled, reaching 1,271 a freedom of information request has revealed.

The community of gardening-lovers and homegrown vegetable foodies has grown to attract people from all ages and paths of life.

“We have seen a clear increase in the number of women around. Now you can see allotments where the fences have been colourfully painted and it looks quite quaint – it’s become a fashion,” said Ms Bardwell.

Sarah West, 30, has grown her own food for the past six years and has only ended the rent of her allotment because she was able to move to a house with a big garden.

“I absolutely adore growing my own food: it’s relaxing, healthier, good exercise, fresh air and so satisfying. It’s also about me doing my bit to lower food miles,” she said.

Ms West seems to fit the profile of new allotment holders as a young professional, who is concerned about her health and the environment.

Among the new recruits at the Low Moor allotment is Pierre-Alain van Griethuysen, 24, a biology PhD student at the University of York, who was offered a half plot in January as a Christmas present.

Mr Griethuysen started to nourish an interest in growing food at university when he decided to look after his shared house’s garden.

“The motivation is pure pleasure,” he said. “Unless you are incredibly thrifty and devote a hell of a lot of time to sourcing cheap materials, allotment growing is not cheaper than supermarket produce, although it is cheaper for that quality.

“It really does change your relationship to food. When you appreciate how much time and effort has gone into growing the food you eat then you become much less wasteful.

“Growing your own food has definitely become cooler,” he added.

Just a few miles west from Low Moor, Bustardthorpe allotment has existed since 1908 and has traditionally provided urban gardens for residents of nearby terraced houses.

Self-managed by a committee of volunteers for the past five years, a lease is paid to the council to rent 276 plots on 15 hectares of land.

Ian Formin, chairman of the volunteering committee, worked at the Rowntree chocolate factory for 25 years and he can still see the factory from his plot.

“It used to be very much male oriented but this is changing quickly. There are more and more young people and certainly more young women,” he said.

Although Mr Formin welcomes the new plot holders and is convinced the popularity of allotments is a sustainable trend, he insisted: “At the core, the motivation to cultivate must prevail.”

Mr Formin and Wally Hammond, who worked on the railways for 40 years and has been growing Russell lupins on the Bustardthorpe allotment for several years, are part of an older generation of growers who have witnessed the change.

Currently there are 144 people on the council’s waiting list for a plot, which represent up to two years wait for certain allotments.

Darren Lovatt, the City of York Council's allotment officer, said the council was forced to split full plots of 300 square yards into halves and quarter plots in order to respond to the growing and diversified demand.

Each year, running these allotments costs the council £26,437.

At the end of April 2015, five beehives were installed on the Bootham allotment and with 200,000 bees York will now produce its own honey.

Mr Lovatt said: “It is all about a sustainable future and it’s another avenue for growing your own food.

“It’s a buzzing project!”

* If you'd like to find out more about having an allotment in York, or would like to join the waiting list for an allotment, call the city council on 01904 553433, email allotments@york.gov.uk or visit york.gov.uk/info/200410/allotments/173/allotments