Sue Baker's view...

I applaud Kay Sexton’s down-to-earth approach – she’s not afraid to point out the downsides to allotments. You can be given the worse plot with weeds at head-height, brambles that could kill and earth so poor it will take years to get into a good heart. You could be plonked down far away from any water-source and right next to the allotment grump. The weather will always be wrong and your crops never good enough. People will scoff at your efforts and your organic protestations met with pitying looks. You’ve got to be dedicated to survive all that and sadly few are, they come and go every year. But read this, find out if you can really cope and like Kay Sexton you will find that the good can outweigh the bad and become hooked on the allotment life till the day they carry you out.

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The Allotment Keeper’s Handbook, Jane Peronne
One Man and His Dig, Valentine Low

Synopsis

When Kay Sexton becomes the proud holder of an allotment, she hopes it will be her first foray towards self-sufficiency for her family. Instead, she finds herself in a strange and hostile world of arcane rules and regulations, and hosepipe standoffs. She finds her mud-caked Wellingtoned feet and successfully navigates her way through allotment-keeping: battling Biblical-scale pest invasions; learning the dark arts of the competitive vegetable grower; and, practising ninja-like disappearing acts to avoid yet another free cucumber from a neighbouring gardener.

About the Author

Kay Sexton left school with no discernable qualifications and has had a plethora of jobs ranging from glamour model, mortician’s assistant, dental receptionist, chambermaid and nudist camp agony aunt. But eventually she had to enter the real world and chose to become a charity administrator. This worthy path was entirely derailed in 2003 when she was invited to write a short story about trees for a charity anthology, the story was never used but she needed to produce some return for the two days leave that her trustees had given her to write it, so she sent it to a magazine. It was accepted. Somewhat sceptical, she wrote another (in her lunch break) and emailed it to a different magazine. It too, was accepted. Three weeks later she handed in her notice, telling the charity’s trustees that she was off to become a writer. Since that fateful day Kay has been a prolific writer and a finalist for several awards including the Sunday Times Short Story Award 2010. More books by this author Author 'Like for Like' recommendation