Situated between New Basford and Whitemoor and nestling between the River Leen and Tram Depot and the Ring Road, Whitemoor Allotments occupy around 17 acres of land just over 2 miles from Nottingham City Centre. The main gate is on Wilkinson Street but there is another gate at the other end of the site on Western Boulevard.
The site contains 143 gardens; the largest of which is approximately 600 square yards and the smallest is 150 square yards. Our facilities also include 2 large car parks, a recycling compound, a site shop, a community cabin that we use for events and even two composting toilets! We hold regular events at Whitemoor for tenants and their families and friends, but also for local people and others interested in allotments, including an annual open day when you can look around the site and go into some of the gardens.
The allotments association is constituted as ‘Whitemoor Gardenholders Cooperative Society Ltd’ and holds the ground on a 25 year lease from Nottingham City Council. The site is managed on behalf of the association by a committee which is elected each year at the AGM. The committee is supported by a number of working groups who carry out the day to day work of running the site.
Tenancy group – Reviews Tenancy agreements and collects rental. Oversees inspections and lets empty plots. Manages the Garden Service Team.
Maintenance group – Helps to keep the site well maintained. This includes cutting the grass in the avenues and trimming communal hedges.
Legal group – Ensures that the Association abides by current legislation and deals with various legal issues concerning allotments.
Internal Communications group – Keeps tenants updated by text or email with any news or notices and deals with tenants queries.
Events & Publicity group – Plans and manages on-site events including the Annual Open day, Produce Day and Bonfire night.
Shop group – The allotment shop is open every Saturday between 10am – 12pm and stocks a wide variety of allotment essentials.
Wildlife group – Fosters wildlife on the site.
Gardens are let mainly to individuals and families but we also have a school on site and Nottingham Organic Gardeners have a demonstration garden. A small group of people keep chickens here and there are also a number of beehives.
The particular character of the site is provided by the privet hedges that delineate each garden. Whilst the hedges provide privacy and security for each tenant they also mean our gardeners have the (at least) twice yearly chore of hedge cutting, this can be a major headache both for our tenants and for the management committee, who have to ensure the work is done.
One allotment researcher investigating the history of the site claims that in the early years of the last century the land now occupied by Whitemoor Allotments was used for growing hops for the nearby Shipstones Brewery. In the mid 1920’s James Shipstone gave the land to the City Council and the allotments were created.
Out of work miners eager for temporary employment were brought in to set out the avenues and plant the hedges. Many allotments have the remains of foundations and brick footings, evidence of what must have been quite significant buildings and greenhouses on them which can be attributed, along with the hedges, to the work of these men.