On 25 March this year at around 6am each plot-holder had a letter hand-posted through their door. It was from the owner of our site, Coombe Allotments, giving us exactly a year to leave.
Lady Day is on 25 March. That’s an archaic reference now – it isn’t even marked on calendars – but its use is a reminder of how old the plots are: it is the day on which contracts between farmers and landowners were traditionally signed. We think this may be one of the oldest sites in the country. It is marked on the 1847 tithe map and there is a hedged field of the same dimensions on a 1763 map. The village cottages and allotments would have been used by workers in the wool trade, which was the primary industry here.
I have a tiny garden a short distance away and my husband, John, agreed to buy our cottage because of the allotments. I grow courgettes, runner beans, french beans, onions, parsnips, all the usual things, plus lots of soft fruit: gooseberries, raspberries, strawberries, redcurrants. The soil is good, from so many years of improvement. When John was alive he was the gardener, I was the gofer. But I grew up in the Welsh valleys and was always around people who had allotments, so knew about gardening, too.
I worked for the Labour party for years and when I retired I thought my campaigning days were over. But I have been forced to become a campaigner again. We are looking at ways to keep the land as allotments, but it is not easy. We never had a tenancy agreement, never anything in writing. We just thought it would always carry on. This is a sleepy village and it was easy to become complacent. Now we are fired up, trying to get the site recognised as a community asset, among other ideas. We could have done that years ago. If you have an allotment, act before you have to.
I would miss the taste of the food I grow – there is nothing else like it – and I would miss the company. Everyone talks; it is the only gathering place in the village. But if we lose the site the thing I will most miss is my husband. He died three years ago, but he was always here.
My favourite spot
The view from the top of the plots is wonderful, out across Tyley Bottom. But I love my greenhouse, too, which is at the base of the slope. It means I can grow good tomatoes.
Follow @fightforcoombe on Twitter.
• How does your garden grow? Email space@theguardian.com
