Westrees has the TRADING STORE (aka the Seed Shed), and is blessed with easy parking.

Location

Turn into Quantock Drive from the A20 next to the St John’s Ambulance Hall, or come at it from the other end by turning into Malvern Road from Magazine Road (see map above). Google’s pointer is NOT on the allotments. Drive along looking for St Teresa’s Roman Catholic School; the allotment gates are next door. There are outer gates, then a curving drive, before inner gates open onto a generous paved parking area.

Facilities

Westrees has 5 water points. The noticeboard is inside the inner gate, facing the car park. The Seed Shed is also on this site. The parking makes loading and unloading much easier than at many sites, and cars should be fairly secure here.

Soil and situation

This site is on the band of Greensand – an iron-rich, acidic soft sandstone. The soil here is well-drained, and naturally acid. Parts of the site can become wet where runoff from areas nearby goes onto the site, but only in exceptionally wet weather. Watering is often necessary in dry years. The soil benefits from as much humus as you can get into it. However, this site has some of the best and easiest soil in the Borough.

The whole site is surrounded by quite tall trees. This means most of the plots get some shade at some part of the day. some plots have overhanging trees. As some of these are planted alongside Simone Weil Avenue, and are not on council land, cutting them back is problematic.

At times there can be a problem with thefts, due to the road being next door. High wire fences are now in place. There is a degree of traffic noise.