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Allotment Gardening

Allotment Gardening

The price of this course may vary. Please use the drop down menu to find dates and prices.


Allotments are one of the great English spaces, where different cultures, microclimates, methods and recipe ideas rub up against each other. If you’re lucky enough to have an allotment already, then the River Cottage Allotment Day will help you to take it to the next level, if you haven’t then today will help you make the leap and carve out your own corner of River Cottage life.

We’ll show you how to go about getting your own allotment, what to expect, and what will be expected of you. We’ll give you some tips about getting it into shape, and doing everything to get yourself and your allotment off to a great start. We’ll take you through the fundamentals of growing your own – including different methods of sowing and planting, making compost, watering and feeding, pest control – and apply them to the allotment. We’ll also look at different ways of approaching your plot, taking advantage of limited space, maximising vertical opportunities, interplanting crops, and ensuring that you have a year-round feast of homegrown flavours to bring to the table.

We’ll take a tour including the River Cottage Kitchen Garden and the courtyard garden to see how we’ve put the theory into practice to grow a whole range of fruit, veg and herbs using different methods that you could employ on your allotment.   The River Cottage Garden Team will be on hand throughout the day to answer any questions you have about establishing and maintaining your allotment. 

The afternoon is all about helping you select the right varieties, maximize your growing season, ensure continual harvests, and source what you need. We’ll also look at green manures, making your own compost, time saving techniques, and ways of attracting beneficial wildlife (and dealing with those less welcome visitors).

We’ll also show you that your options maybe wider than you thought, and that food such as olives and peaches can be added to the allotmenters menu.

Your day will include a delicious seasonal lunch prepared by The River Cottage Kitchen Team using ingredients from the Kitchen Garden.

So, whether you’re just starting out in the search for your own allotment, or want to take your patch to the next level, this course is for you.

Advice: We run three garden courses at River Cottage HQ, which share some core elements and as such we suggest that you will only need to attend one of the courses. The choice is Allotment, Urban Kitchen Garden or Veg Patch.

 Please note that Hugh does not attend this event

Location: This course is run from River Cottage H.Q on the Dorset/Devon borders. Full address details of H.Q. will be provided once you have booked.

Wine/drink: We are a licensed venue. We also have a Bring Your Own policy and we do not charge corkage. We have a wide selection of the finest organic wines. We will be serving Elderflower cordial and iced water from our own well.

Accommodation: If you need local accommodation, click here for a list of hotels and bed & breakfasts, recommended to us by our customers. We don’t have camping facilities ourselves, but for information on local campsites and self catering accommodation, call the Lyme Regis Tourist Information Office on 01297 442 138. They will be very happy to help.

Age: We would advise that this course is only really suitable for 12yrs of age and upwards. Under 16?s must be accompanied by an adult. We put these guidelines for the safety, comfort and enjoyment of all our guests.

Time: 10am-5pm

Register here to be kept informed of future dates

In order for us to get a good idea of the event you are looking for please click here to send us your contact details. If you include in the email your mobile number, when you want to attend and how many tickets you want, we can then try and place you on the event when the date comes up. The more information you give on the event you want, the more likely we are to be able to place you. Your email to us won’t trigger an automatic email response but when we have new dates, we will then contact you.